Mom Abandons Baby, Leaves Him With Sitter Hired Over Craigslist
An Indianapolis babysitter got more than she bargained for this week after the 13-month-old boy she was caring for was abandoned by his mother. The sitter, 28-year-old Cecilia Long, answered a Craigslist ad around Thanksgiving and had been watching the boy at her home on a regular basis ever since.
But when the boy’s mother Jen failed to pick him up on Wednesday, Long gave her a call, only to be told that she was out of town and that the child was no longer her “problem.” Long called police, who decided to reach out to Jen themselves. “Quit fucking calling my phone!” she told them before hanging up and ultimately disconnecting her phone. (Police said they could hear loud music and voices in the background.) The mother is now on the run.
The child, named Kameron, is now in the care of child protective services. It’s a sad story, to be sure, but the silver lining here is that Jen left her boy with a responsible adult rather than leaving him in a dumpster, for example an all too common scenario we’ll often read about in the news. [tagbox tag=”bad parenting”]
Meanwhile, I’m thinking about how most parents are vigilant about screening their sitters before hiring them especially when they meet via Craigslist. But rarely do I think of the sitters “screening” their potential employers. In Long’s case, she told police that Jen never gave her full name or an emergency phone number. All she knew is that Jen was a dancer at a strip club called Rick’s Cabaret but when police went to the club they were told there was nobody who worked there by the name of Jen.
Long said she took the job as a way to help herself and her family financially. “I thought babysitting would be a nice, easy way to help someone else in need and help me, so it was like a win-win situation,” she told WISH TV. Long was supposed to earn $75 a day but has yet to be paid.
”I’m thankful he is okay, and I provided excellent care,” Long said. ”I just feel sorry his mom [doesn’t want] to be a part of his life.”
(Photo: wishtv.com)
