Father charged in wandering child incident

"SIDNEY, Ohio -- Police in Sidney found a 3-year-old child on June 4^th in their city and they announced late Monday afternoon that they have filed charges against the child's father after an investigation of the incident..."

It's so lucky that nothing bad happened to the little boy. But I feel bad for the dad - obviously he works hard and is tired! It's a wake-up call though, (no pun intended) that child care help is needed.

Many years ago, my brother got bored and wandered off from home in search of someone to play with. When my mom realized he'd left the house, she was scared out of her mind, as any parent would be.  She went out looking for him, and found him a couple blocks away, talking to a woman and a police officer. No charges were filed. I don't even know if they would file charges for that back then.

In this case, the man was still sleeping and didn't realize his son was wandering. Now, I feel that if the dad was under the influence of something, and that's why he was passed out, then file charges. If the son wanders away from the house on a regular basis, then file charges. But kids do tend to get bored and wander off, and parents make mistakes. I have to wonder if there is any gender bias here. Would charges be filed if this was a mother instead of a father?

Here's the whole news report. What do you think?

SIDNEY, Ohio -- Police in Sidney found a 3-year-old child on June 4^th in their city and they announced late Monday afternoon that they have filed charges against the child's father after an investigation of the incident.

John Warren, 24, of Sidney, had one count of misdemeanor child endangering filed against him in Sidney Municipal Court. Warren was issued a summons to appear in court at a later date.

Last Friday at 12:12 p.m. police were called to the 300 block of West Parkwood Street on the report of a child wandering in the street. The boy was wearing only a camouflage t-shirt.

At 5:56 p.m. the police chief notified area media that the father of the boy--Warren--was located.  Warren, who works the third shift at his job, was at home and asleep when his son got out of the house.

From: http://newstalkradiowhio.com/localnews/2010/06/sidney-father-charged-in-wande.html