Earlier this week here in Charleston, a 1-year old girl was hospitalized after swallowing crack that she found the floor of the apartment she shares with her parents. Thankfully the child will survive and the parents have been charged with neglect. The mother is in jail and the father (of course) is missing and the police are still looking for him. Click here to read the entire story.
At first glance this looks like another one of those trifling parent stories, with black folks in the starring role. However, it may be also another case of a black woman who makes bad choices in men and the children end up suffering. The parents were married. The mother had steady job working at a local car dealership. She was described as “bright, energetic, and well-liked”. The father, it seems doesn’t have a job, but he does have a rap sheet that includes robbery and drug-trafficking (which may be why there was crack in the house). Their relationship has been described as good girl attracted to the bad boy. And now a toddler is in the hospital and will probably be put in the foster care system unless someone in the family steps up.
I don’t want to judge a sista, I’m sure she’s worried about her daughter, and the guilt is eating her alive. However, as a mother, you have to put the child first. Even before your husband/baby daddy. If I knew my husband was doing something that could hurt our daughter or land us in jail and her in the foster care system, he’d have to go. And if he wouldn’t go, I’d report his ass to the police myself. No man is worth losing your child or your freedom over.
