A Florida woman is being charged with child neglect after she was found topless and unconscious in a hotel parking lot while she was supposed to be babysitting a five-year-old boy. Tampa's 10 News reports that the incident occurred on Thursday night, while the boy's mother was out gambling.
Babysitter Stacey Kerres, who was passed out when she was found, and was described as "lethargic and incoherent" by police officers, apparently watched the child regularly. The young boy who was playing video games with members of the hotel staff when police arrived, was unharmed. However, authorities were unable to locate his mother and he was turned over to the Department of Children and Families. Seriously, what is wrong with this woman? And where was the boy's MOTHER?
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This case begs the question of responsibility. Should the mother of the child or the caregiver be held liable? If Kerres was frequently left to care for the boy, you would assume that his mother knew her well enough to trust her, but no responsible parent would leave their child with the type of character that would be found by police half-naked and exhibiting signs of intoxication.
I'm sure it's possible that Kerres led the boy's mother (who has not been identified) to believe that she was trustworthy, but for some reason, the idea of a mom who leaves her child with a babysitter in a hotel room to go gamble just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I'm judging, but there's something about that fact alone that leads me to believe that the child's mother isn't the most attentive parent and may not have been as discriminating as she should have been in choosing a sitter for her son. But that's just my theory!
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Plus, where was this woman hours later that the police were unable to locate her to return her son? It leaves me wondering whether both she and the sitter will be charged. I also can't help but note that the child wasn't at all described as being upset. Perhaps this was not an isolated incident?
What do you think of this babysitter from hell? Who should be held responsible in this case?
Image via Brevard County Sheriff's Office
