Someone Needs To Answer For The ‘Misunderstanding’ Of A 3-Year-Old Abandoned At A Valet Stand

Yesterday, an image of an adorable girl in a pink shirt started making the rounds on Facebook. She was dropped off at a valet stand at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles, with a car seat. That’s right, an adult dropped a three-year-old off at a valet stand by herself. 

Immediately, people began assuming that the child had been abandoned, and circulated the photo that was snapped by police. Of course they assumed she’d been abandoned — who leaves a three-year-old by herself in public? She was able to tell officers her first name was “Audrey,” but no other information. The girl’s mother — who lives out of state — did not know her child had been dropped off alone until she saw media reports.

Her father collected her a few hours later, and explained that a relative was supposed to drop her off to meet him at the Grove to have her picture taken with Santa. When the relative never showed up, the father left. From KTLA 5: ”’There was some confusion between the father and other family members that had the child, in terms of coordinating a pickup and getting the child reunited with the family,’ [LAPD Lt.Jay Mastick] said. Audrey was reunited with a parent Sunday, LAPD stated in a news release around 2:40 p.m.”

Relatives told the news station that the girl’s parents are separated and she is often cared for by other family members. CFS is conducting an investigation, but no charges have been filed.

Okay, what? What is going on here? How do you just drop a child off by herself? The little girl didn’t even know her last name. They are damn lucky nothing happened to her. I just can’t wrap my brain around the decision to just drop a child off — with no concern for actually handing her off to her father. There has got to be more to this story.

 

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