Seriously? At 17, 16, 14, and 13 they ought to be able to care for themselves, at least minimally. If my teenage sons were such punks that I couldn't manage them, I might let them rot in their own filth. She had previously sought help and either was refused or it failed.
Now she's going to jail? Excellent solution to this problem. This isn't someone who abandoned helpless children. This is someone who gave up dealing with out of control teenage boys. Not a good solution, but not jail worthy.

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I agree with Brenda. It isn't like she left a few toddlers and an infant home alone. Parents often hire kids this age as babysitters and no one blinks an eye about it. They are certainly old enough to care for themselves for "hours."

If she left them totally unsupervised, without food, heat, etc and didn't even see them for a month or more, then, yes, I think she was negligent. But from what I have read elsewhere I don't think that is what she did. Also, I don't think she should be sent to jail over this, even if she isn't Mother of the Year.

You know, all 4 of these boys are probably bigger and certainly stronger than she is. It is not like she can plop them in the naughty corner because they don't listen to her. Kids, particularly boys I would say, this age are very difficult to control. I am going to give her the benefit of a doubt and assume that the poor woman had probably done everything else she could think of. Obviously something is wrong with this family, but she tried to get help and no one would help her so now they are punishing her. They have been to the house before? Did anyone do anything to help this family those previous times? Obviously not if she resorted to this.

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these are teens. So is it against the law to have them as latch key kids at that age too?
I know 17 yr olds who have babies and are taking care of thier own house. they are pleanty old enough to take care of themsleves

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