Bella Vista toddlers in state’s custody
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
BELLA VISTA - Two toddlers found wandering down busy Highlands Boulevard in Bella Vista on Tuesday are now in the custody of the state.
Police Department dispatchers received a call about 3: 10 p.m. Tuesday about two children in diapers walking by themselves on the main thoroughfare through the Highlands area of Bella Vista. The two were being watched by four women who found the pair near Highlands Boulevard and Hebrides Drive.
Officer Melissa Bates reported that the children, a 2-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, were found on a hill along the curvy road. The boy was riding a tricycle; the girl was walking.
"If a car had come along, it could have killed him," she said. "They wouldn't have had time to stop."
The safety of the children was at the top of Bates' mind. Before she left the police station to answer the call, she put two car seats in her patrol car.
The boy was wearing a soakingwet diaper with no other clothes, while the girl had on a sun dress and a wet diaper. Neither child had on shoes.
Bates - who has a 2-year-old son - loaded the children into her patrol car and took them to her home to get them some diapers, clothing and juice.
While she was taking care of the children, police officer Duke Brackney was trying to find the children's parents, Bates said. His investigation led him to a home on Hebrides Lane, the scene of at least five similar complaints in the past about children without adult supervision, Bates explained.
When Brackney arrived, he found the front door wide open, Bates said. He eventually located the mother - sleeping.
"He had to physically shake her three times to wake her," Bates said.
Bates said she never thought twice about what to do with the toddlers.
"I refused to return them to the residence because of the five other calls," she said.
The children's father and his in-laws came to the Police Department later in the day, but the mother never showed up, Bates said. Instead of giving them the children, Bates contacted the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services and turned them over to DHHS custody.
Charges are pending against the mother, Bates said, including endangering the welfare of minors.
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