Brianna: The Little Girl That Could

NEWSWEEK ^ | Oct. 13 issue | Catharine Skipp and Dirk Johnson

[trussell]

Brianna: The Little Girl That Could

NEWSWEEK

Oct. 13 issue — Left at home alone for nearly three weeks, 2-year-old Brianna Lee somehow managed to fend for herself. Wandering about her Florida apartment foraging for food, she survived on whatever she could unwrap—cheese crackers, cookies, brownie mix, ketchup, uncooked macaroni.

[trussell]

This has a nice ending. Father gets custody.

[Support Free Republic]

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[trussell]

Two year old baby girl, left home alone.

Heartbreaking story with a good ending.

[MonroeDNA]

I guess I've been around here for about 6 years or so now. Time sure flies!

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[annyokie]

Indeed. However, why didn't the neighbors know she was home alone? This was an apartment complex, after all. TG, her "mother" actually had food in the house or this could have been truly tragic.

[tiki]

This little girl had a gaurdian angel watching over her. It's a horrible story but it shows the resiliance of children. If her mother was unfit she was probably used to taking care of herself.

[Orangedog]

Note that it takes the mother to be in jail and the kid to be left alone for almost two weeks for the father to get custody. What do you want to bet that the court will give custody back to the mother when she gets out of jail.

[Nephi]

Neighbors had called child authorities repeatedly in the past to report that the mom was unfit, according to The Miami Herald.

If true, this doesn't bode well for the Bush dynasty.

[lakey]

My, you have been around a while.

If donations don't pick up, I'll send in another check.

TR, little Brianna has staying power. I pray that her future will be filled with love & caring.

[MonroeDNA]

Thanks, and my prayers go out to her.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

No offense, but there is something missing from this story.

I have not figured out what it is yet, but something doesn't fit.

[trussell]

I pray not. That would be tragic if the mother got the child back after what the child has already been through.

[trussell]

When you figure it out, please post your thoughts.

All I know is, I am happy the child is ok, and the father is willing to provide a home for her.

Blessings,
trussell

[arthurus]

Mothers who have done worse and been worse in Florida have gotten their children back when they got out of jail. Right here in my small town it has happened.

[SAMWolf]

I do too but knowing how these a$$es at child services work and how stupid judges rule, I fear mom will get her back.

[Cathryn Crawford]

I do too but knowing how these a$$es at child services work and how stupid judges rule, I fear mom will get her back.

You have no idea.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Ogden Lee was given custody of his daughter. A spokesman at Wolfson Children's Hospital, where the girl was treated and released late Tuesday, said Brianna was in good condition.

Amazing. Miracles do exist.

[agrace]

Please God, let him keep custody.

I am forced to imagine my own 2 year old, my precocious Joshua, who I just had the pleasure of spending an entire evening with solo (he has a cold so he stayed home with me while his 6 year old and 9 month old sisters and Daddy went to a friend's annual bonfire), fending for himself in our kitchen cabinets, eating cookies and crackers and getting himself juice and milk and cheese from the fridge...actually he would do pretty ok; I did call him precocious after all. Thank God Brianna is precocious as well.

I love my kids more than my life. Can't imagine this scenario, so glad she is ok. I bet she clinged to her Daddy.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

“He found the baby lying in a baby tub with a towel draped around her,” said Ken Jefferson of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department. “She was watching cartoons when he walked in.” The girl’s body was smeared with ketchup and mustard, Jefferson said, and “feces and urine were everywhere.” She had apparently been drinking water from the toilet and the lower part of the fridge had been emptied.

Beyond words.

[Great Dane]

Amazing little child.