Mom Who Was Arrested for Letting 14-Year-Old Babysit Has Finally Been Cleared"I didn't know if this would ever end," says Melissa Henderson. "I'm very relieved. A heaviness has lifted."
LENORE SKENAZY
4.5.2023
Melissa Henderson, the Georgia mom handcuffed, arrested, and thrown in jail for having her 14-year-old babysit her younger siblings in the early days of COVID-19, has prevailed in her legal ordeal.
"I didn't know if this would ever end," says Henderson. "I'm very relieved. A heaviness has lifted."
That heaviness began on May 5, 2020 when Henderson was called to work. Unfortunately, her younger kids' daycare center was shuttered, and so was her older kids' school. She asked her 14-year-old daughter Linley to watch the four little ones, and off she went to work.
While Linley was participating in remote learning, her youngest brother, 4-year-old Thaddeus, spied a friend outside and went out to play with him. This was in quiet, rural Blairsville, Georgia: population 616. The friend's mother called the cops and thus Henderson's ordeal began. After all, the arresting officer wrote in his report: Anything terrible could have happened to the lad. He could have been kidnapped, run over, or even "bitten by a venomous snake"—the cop's exact words.
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In the end, the judge agreed, stating: "This court is bound to find in favor of the Defendant, as the State has failed to allege evidence sufficient to indicate that Defendant consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustified risk."
Henderson is now a free woman with two problems still hanging over her head. The first is the time and money it will take to seal and expunge the arrest record, jail record, and court files, so she never has to mention it on employment or background checks. The second is that her ex-husband has just filed for custody of their two young children, based partly on her arrest. Her GoFundMe remains open to help defray the costs of both these battles.
Source:
https://reason.com/2023/04/05/mom-who-was-arrested-for-letting-14-year-old-babysit-has-finally-been-cleared/
