An absolutely heartbreaking story in the NYT on the crimes of a single, homeless mother, Shanesha Taylor, who left her two sons in a hot car during a job interview.
Occurring on March 20th, she was reported and arrested in the parking lot after two office workers heard crying coming from her care. One of her sons is two years old, the other was 9 mos. Police in the town of Scottsdale, AZ, estimated that inside the car the temperature was over 100 degrees. The two could have easily died during the 70 minute interview where she was offered a job at Farmers Insurance.
The piece recounts the events of Ms. Taylor’s economic downfall which began in 2006 and and with the arrival of the Great Recession in 2008. She lost her job, moved from place to place, and could find no employment that paid enough to cover any form of shelter, much less enough for childcare services. She lived in her Durango for days and days.
Taylor has now been bailed out of jail thanks to anonymous donors, yet still faces two felony child abuse counts for her actions.
This is a must-read. How can we expect to protect our society’s most vulnerable in an economy and with a government structure that treats our own citizens so unfairly. Yet, you cannot leave your very young children in a hot car no matter what the circumstances. This story just tears you apart.
You can find a petition calling for Scottdale’s prosecutor to drop the charges against Ms. Taylor at this link.
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Sparking The Left 