Young mother Ashley Guillory says she briefly went out to buy food when her son accidentally lit his shirt on fire.
Posted on 11/27/2002 3:08:52 AM PST by chance33_98
Young mother Ashley Guillory says she briefly went out to buy food when her son accidentally lit his shirt on fire.
Mother loses custody after young children left home alone start fire
By Deborah Wrigley ABC13 Eyewitness News
(11/26/02) — A mother accused of leaving her two young children home alone loses custody of them. Her seven-year-old son is recovering from first and second degree burns he suffered after being left home alone with his five-year-old sister.
It's a sad story for the children and for their mother. She was 14 when she had her first child. Now she's without either of them, and a relative is seeking permanent custody.
Family Court Judge Mary Craft announced, "I find that it is in the best interest of these two children, Donovan and Bianca, to be placed under emergency temporary managing conservorship of Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services."
It signals the end to a family living together -- a separation between 21-year-old Ashley Guillory and her five-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. The turning point came Monday night at Guillory's apartment. She was gone when the boy was burned playing with a cigarette lighter. He was left home alone with his younger sister.
"I was only gone for, like, 25 minutes to go get my kids something to eat," explained Ashley Guillory. "And during that time my son caught his self on fire, his shirt."
It is the latest in a list of CPS investigations. Six years ago there was a finding of medical neglect against Guillory. Her son was in foster care for nearly a year. In 1997 and 1998 there were investigations for neglectful supervision. No evidence was found. And in 1999 the children were in therapy after the son began setting small fires. Last month there was a report the little girl was left playing alone.
This time CPS is taking charge of both children.
"We definitely wan to know if this was a pattern, how often she was leaving them alone and then work from there," said Estella Olguin of Childrens' Protective Services.
Stepping in, though, to take care of at least one of the children is one set of grandparents -- sympathetic to Guillory, but still seeking permanent custody.
"I believe in them knowing who their parents are," said Grandmother Valerie Thompson. She described the situation as a wakeup call for Guillory.
Guillory's seven-year-old son remains hospitalized in good condition. He'll be released to a relative's care. As for Guillory, she says she made a mistake when she left the kids. This mistake, however, had serious consequences.
I see a montel williams episode in her future....
IMVHO she ought to be in jail for a few months. Not that jail time will do this lame brain much good.
Food = Drugs.
Where was the father(s) at the time? (sarcasm off)
When Fourteen year olds give birth we cannot expect them to provide the mature judgement and loving care necessary to raise a child.
These mothers never mature themselves, their children are treated worse than pets... give the kids a bowl of cereal or chips, turn on the TV and head out for a night on the town.
Turn the children over to another single relative. Yeah, that will solve the problem...... for about seven years!
I suppose it was just too much trouble to take the kids along.
Or, maybe it's undesirable to have a couple little kids in tow when planning to make a good first impression on the next whoremong-- er, I mean, eligible bachelor.
But this "mom" already knew that her son was setting fires...and she STILL left him alone with his small sister -- and with a lighter (wanna bet it was lying on the coffee table?) -- sorry, she does deserve to be blamed for this one (and I don't like it when families are broken up -- but this girl needs some parenting classes or something)
*SIGH* I suspect you may be right -- sad :(
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