TOTALLY GEEKED!

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

ODESSA-The Odessa Police Department was called out to a house on the 200 block of E 89th St about 4:30 Tuesday evening to an unresponsive baby.

Police Spokesman Steve LeSueur is giving very little information about the case, "Originally it was called in as a deceased person then it turned into a medical call."

OPD says the 5 week old infant girl was not breathing and was taken to Medical Center Hospital before being transported to Lubbock in critical condition.

Neighbors say the baby and 4 other kids were being taken care of by a 10 year old girl. They said the girl came out and asked a neighbor for help. That neighbor then started CPR and called 911.

According to child protective services there is no minimum age to leave a child unattended or have as a babysitter in the state of Texas.

CPS judge readiness on a child's emotional maturity, safety of the home, and how many children are left unsupervised.

However, Odessa Police say there is still a law that can be broken regardless of the age of the babysitter.

"We go by the totality of the circumstances, and a lot of it is based off this statue; endangering a child which is Texas state law," LeSueur said.

Endangering a child means you can be charged with a crime if you knowingly or recklessly place a child under the age of 15 in danger of death bodily harm.

"If it is determined no criminal element is met, than in a lot of cases officers will at least notify CPS."

A woman who was at the home earlier says the baby girl is still not breathing.

OPD is not calling this an accident and are investigating this as a crime.

just Czech · Give Me Grand's!

I bet one of the littler kids dropped the baby. Sadly that can happen at anytime and in any family WITH adult supervision.

I'm not saying that is what happened, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

FNW · Guru

So scary and sad.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

So sad. That is a lot of responsibility to put on a 10 year old.

Dona Worry Be Happy · Vette's SS!!

Four young children, plus a month old infant? I would have trouble with that, I would never ask a ten year old to be in charge of that many little kids. Too much can go wrong.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Dona Worry Be Happy wrote:
Four young children, plus a month old infant? I would have trouble with that, I would never ask a ten year old to be in charge of that many little kids. Too much can go wrong.

I never left my 10 year old in charge of her one 4 year old sibling. Now that she's 11, we signed her up for a babysitting course and leave her with her sister for very, very quick errands, like running to the store for milk or to the post office.

ed11563 · Guru

I was babysitting for a neighbor when I was 10. The kids were 5, 3, and one.

BUT my mother was a phone call away if anything came up. (nothing ever came up).

This girl saw a problem and got help from a neighbor.

What we don't know (at least I didn't see it) is whether this baby was in trouble before being dropped off, or stopped breathing while in the babysitter's care.

I'd sure like to know why the kid stopped breathing.

FNW · Guru

I don't think I started sitting until I was 13.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I don't remember when I first babysat.

I don't remember when I first started letting my kids stay home to make quick trips.

It doesn't say there was any wrong doing on anyone's part.

The girl saw she needed help and got it. She did it right.

Doesn't say anything about how the other kids were being cared for.

It's a sad turn of events, but babies sometimes stop breathing

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

I started babysitting way too young. Like 8. My mother was crazy.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

They are investigating it as a crime. The baby is in critical condition. I don't care what people say and you can flame away but ten is far too young to be caring all day for a five week baby. That's a recipe for disaster. Plus she had four other children under ten to care for. So, including her and the baby, there were six kids there. That's a lot for anyone. Even a teenager at 13. Yes, the baby was probably crying, the ten year old was probably making a bottle, and one of the other kids probably picked baby up and dropped it. It's not the ten year old's fault. Where is the mother? This is too much responsibility for a ten year old. Yeah, she knew enough to ask for help but this should have never happened.

I don't have a baby but if I did I wouldn't leave them alone with SS who is ten.

NAOW · Vette's SS

Nobody Just Nobody wrote:
They are investigating it as a crime. The baby is in critical condition. I don't care what people say and you can flame away but ten is far too young to be caring all day for a five week baby. That's a recipe for disaster. Plus she had four other children under ten to care for. So, including her and the baby, there were six kids there. That's a lot for anyone. Even a teenager at 13. Yes, the baby was probably crying, the ten year old was probably making a bottle, and one of the other kids probably picked baby up and dropped it. It's not the ten year old's fault. Where is the mother? This is too much responsibility for a ten year old. Yeah, she knew enough to ask for help but this should have never happened.

I don't have a baby but if I did I wouldn't leave them alone with SS who is ten.

I completely agree.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

So they got the baby breathing again? That is good at least. Poor thing. I hope it isn't brain damaged from lack of oxygen.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Well there is absolutely no information in the OP other than a baby stopped breathing while in the care of a 10 yr old.

I don't see anywhere that says how long they had been without an adult, what the circumstances were, possible medical issues, nothing.

For all we know, mom went to the grocery store and hadn't been gone 30 minutes.

And it truly depends on the maturity and ability of the one watching them. Not all 10 yr olds are the same.

I'm not going to pick up a stone just yet.

chef · Guru

I hope the baby will be ok.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

Lexxy wrote:
So they got the baby breathing again? That is good at least. Poor thing. I hope it isn't brain damaged from lack of oxygen.

I believe the baby is on life support.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

UPDATE: 37-year-old Rendi Lajaunie and 18-year-old Ember Lajaunie have both been charged and arrested for six counts of Endangering a Child.

During a search of the home officers saw multiple power sockets and light switches that were uncovered and exposed electrical live wires in two separate rooms.

A search through a Ember's cell phone showed text messages between her and her mother, Rendi, stating they both knew the ten-year-old would be watching all five unsupervised children for multiple hours.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Ok. So a few uncovered outlets and some text messages? That's it?

Sorry. Still not picking up a stone.

Dona Worry Be Happy · Vette's SS!!

Lily, A BABY IS DYING.
Six young children were left alone for hours, and one stopped breathing, and is described as in critical condition. Just from the facts in the OP, I have no faith the baby will live.
Funny how you don't care about what happens to a baby after it leaves the womb. Dead babies before their born? Horrific tragedy. Dead baby T five weeks old? Meh, nobody's perfect.
Seriously? The ten year old SHOULD NOT have been left with that many kids for hours at a time. Hell, she shouldn't have been left with that many kids period. The infant at the very least should have just gone with mom or another adult. And now, due to the stupidity of the parents, a baby is in critical condition and even if the little girl had nothing at all to due with it, and could have done nothing to prevent it, she has to live with the fact that her sibling came to harm and in all likely hood will die while she was in charge, and that is terrible.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

That's not what I said.

From the OP, and the follow-up information, nothing has been said about any kind of wrong doing that caused the baby to stop breathing.

Caitlyn stopped breathing at 3 weeks laying right beside me. It is more scary than anything ever in the world. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

But the fact is, it can happen no matter who is where doing what.

Want to charge for poor living conditions? Fine.

But unless the baby was forced to touch a live, hot wire and was electrocuted, there isn't any criminal actions that have taken place.

Tell me what caused the baby to stop breathing. Shaken baby syndrome? Was it dropped? Was something done to it to cause this? Cause right now, nothing has been said to indicate this couldn't have happened any where at any time.

Dona Worry Be Happy · Vette's SS!!

Except baby is described as injured, and is on life support in critical condition and this is being treated as a crime, not an accident.
Someone obviously knows more than we do, and has determined a crime took place.
Leaving a very young child in charge of that many small kids sounds like reckless endangerment to me, and mom should be charged.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I can only glean from the information presented.

Like I said, based on the OP and follow up, there is nothing more than circumstance.

So unless you have more information, there really isn't any more to say about it right now.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Exposed electrical live wires is a tad bit on the dangerous side. Even for adults.

Beside that - I think leaving a child that young in charge of an infant is reckless, let alone 5 kids. Don't really need any more info than that.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Look. I'm not trying to defend anything. Just saying I need more info.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

lilyofcourse wrote:
Look. I'm not trying to defend anything. Just saying I need more info.

No. You really don't. They left a ten year old alone for hours caring for multiple children, one of whom was an infant. If that's not enough info, you have a serious problem.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I'm not throwing stones just yet.

10 yr olds have taken care of kids, multiple kids and including infants, since forever. And now we have all kinds of ways to get help if needed.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

Well, I know two things - ONE - I will NEVER even consider a comment from you about child-rearing. TWO - Those parents need to go to jail and lose their children. A baby is likely going to DIE because of their actions. And I agree with Dona completely - you only seem to care about the welfare of babies while they are in the womb.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

Oh well I guess I will cover myself in ashes, assume the fetal position and lament at this imposed anguish.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

lilyofcourse wrote:
Oh well I guess I will cover myself in ashes, assume the fetal position and lament at this imposed anguish.

This is the stupidest post I've seen in quite a while.

lilyofcourse · My spirit animal is a pink flamingo.

I don't really care what you think is stupid, acceptable, or anything else.

Dona Worry Be Happy · Vette's SS!!

I can't believe you would find this situation acceptable. It is not.
And the baby in the hospital is the proof.

msrock · Guru

Lawyerlady wrote:
Well, I know two things - ONE - I will NEVER even consider a comment from you about child-rearing. TWO - Those parents need to go to jail and lose their children. A baby is likely going to DIE because of their actions. And I agree with Dona completely - you only seem to care about the welfare of babies while they are in the womb.

Yeah. It's mind boggling coming from a poster who has commented about not dating because of exposing kids/putting them at risk with a non bio parent, but it's ok for this guy, who during his visitation with his own child took him to the car and left him there so he could finish his date! lol! The hypocrisy. It abounds!

eta: OOPS. Wrong thread!

-- Edited by msrock on Friday 21st of August 2015 11:01:44 AM

huskerbb · Guru

Dona Worry Be Happy wrote:
I can't believe you would find this situation acceptable. It is not.
And the baby in the hospital is the proof.

No, it isn't. The outcome is NOT the basis upon which to determine if it was a good decision or not. Using that standard it would then mean that if nothing bad had happened, then it would have been a good decision. Is that what you are saying?

undoubtedly some other parents somewhere on the planet--and probably in the same damn town--left a baby with someone you would consider too young to care for it, but nothing bad happened, so you never heard about those. Does it then mean that those parents made good decisions based on lack of a bad outcome?

-- Edited by huskerbb on Friday 21st of August 2015 10:55:51 AM

msrock · Guru

So you are saying that you'd be ok with your son leaving your 5 week old grandbaby in the care of a 10 year old while watching 4 other children?

lol!

msrock · Guru

And no the outcome doesn't matter. It was a stupid decision any way you look at it.

huskerbb · Guru

msrock wrote:
So you are saying that you'd be ok with your son leaving your 5 week old grandbaby in the care of a 10 year old while watching 4 other children?

lol!

Um, where did I say that? What I said was that a bad outcome doesnt automatically mean it was a bad decision, or that lack of such means it's a good decision. That is flawed logic--or lack thereof.

if I get falling down drunk and drive home, was that a good decision if I manage not to have an accident? Conversely, just because I have an accident (when sober) when going to work, does that make it a bad decision to drive to work that morning?

msrock · Guru

huskerbb wrote:
msrock wrote:
So you are saying that you'd be ok with your son leaving your 5 week old grandbaby in the care of a 10 year old while watching 4 other children?

lol!
Um, where did I say that? What I said was that a bad outcome doesnt automatically mean it was a bad decision, or that lack of such means it's a good decision. That is flawed logic--or lack thereof.

if I get falling down drunk and drive home, was that a good decision if I manage not to have an accident? Conversely, just because I have an accident (when sober) when going to work, does that make it a bad decision to drive to work that morning?

I already posted the outcome doesn't matter. It was a bad decision all around. Outrageous even... leaving a ten year old in that situation.

huskerbb · Guru

I don't necessarily agree that 10 is too young. I do think 5 weeks is pretty young. There's a huge difference between an infant that is, say, five or six months old and one that is only a few weeks old. The fact that there were several other children there makes a difference as well--as would their ages, which we do not know. If one or two of the other kids were 8 or 9, that would be better than if they were all under 5.

Lawyerlady · On the bright side...... Christmas is coming! (Mod)

The outcome is not what makes it wrong. It was wrong even if the baby hadn't gotten hurt. A 10 year old should never have been left in that position to care for 5 younger children. There are adults who couldn't handle that. And she was amazingly close to the legal limit for a professional child care provider.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

Lawyerlady wrote:
The outcome is not what makes it wrong. It was wrong even if the baby hadn't gotten hurt. A 10 year old should never have been left in that position to care for 5 younger children. There are adults who couldn't handle that. And she was amazingly close to the legal limit for a professional child care provider.

Count me as an adult who couldn't handle it.

NAOW · Vette's SS

Leaving a 5 week old baby alone with a ten year old is bad. Leaving a 10 year old alone with 5 kids is bad. Leaving a 10 year old alone with 5 kids, one of whom is a newborn, is a recipe for disaster. Bad judgement all around. I feel so sorry for that poor baby, but also for the 10 year old who is going to have to live with this for the rest of her life.

Also, yes, babies can stop breathing for many reasons at any given time, but the difference is that an adult wont have to waste precious minutes hunting down a neighbor to help- they will know to call 911 and start CPR if they know it.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

I will keep you all updated as I get news. I think the police are purposely keeping quiet on a lot of details.

OutlawJoseyWales · Newbie

Adding do not leave baby with 10 year old should be added to my parenting class curriculum. Do not leave 10 year old in charge of any number of children should also be added.

Today's 10 year old is not comparable to a 1975 version of a 10 year old.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

OutlawJoseyWales wrote:
Adding do not leave baby with 10 year old should be added to my parenting class curriculum. Do not leave 10 year old in charge of any number of children should also be added.

Today's 10 year old is not comparable to a 1975 version of a 10 year old.

I agree with this. And honestly if it had just been a six, eight, and ten year old and the ten year old was responsible I might have gone to the corner store for milk. There is no way in hell I would leave a five week old baby in the care of a ten year old, alone or with other kids, for even a short period.

huskerbb · Guru

OutlawJoseyWales wrote:
Adding do not leave baby with 10 year old should be added to my parenting class curriculum. Do not leave 10 year old in charge of any number of children should also be added.

Today's 10 year old is not comparable to a 1975 version of a 10 year old.

I don't agree with that last one, at all. To any extent it has any truth, it's our fault. We keep kids as infants until they are in college, or after. when you expect very little, that's exactly what you are going to get.

Lexxy · My dog name is Sasha, too!

NAOW wrote:
Leaving a 5 week old baby alone with a ten year old is bad. Leaving a 10 year old alone with 5 kids is bad. Leaving a 10 year old alone with 5 kids, one of whom is a newborn, is a recipe for disaster. Bad judgement all around. I feel so sorry for that poor baby, but also for the 10 year old who is going to have to live with this for the rest of her life.

Also, yes, babies can stop breathing for many reasons at any given time, but the difference is that an adult wont have to waste precious minutes hunting down a neighbor to help- they will know to call 911 and start CPR if they know it.

I fell badly for the 10 year old too. That was way too much responsibility to lay on her shoulders. And now as you said she has to live with it. So terribly unfair.

Nobody Just Nobody · Rib-it! Rrrib-it!

She sounds very mature. She didn't panic. She went next door for help. Did they have a phone at the house? That's something I want to know. You never leave kids alone without a phone. But regardless of whether she was mature or not she does have to live with this forever.

NAOW · Vette's SS

I think the 10 year old from each generation might be comparable, but when accidents happened in 1975, people let it go as an accident. Now, standards have risen and it is no longer acceptable to risk it.

just Czech · Give Me Grand's!

I'm pretty sure I've shared this story before, but, I was 11 years old when the neighbor lady hired me to babysit her 4 children. Ages where 5, 3, 2 and 3 days old at the time. I stayed with them for 3 days and nights.
My mom was down the road a half mile. Yes, there was a phone.
I did just fine with all those kids. And the 3 day old!
I WAS 11 years old!!!
Some kids are more mature than others. I was mature for my age. IMHO, this 10 year old is also mature for her age. I highly doubt this was the first time she was left alone with all the little ones as well.
When you give your children responsibilities, they become responsible individuals. I'm not saying this is true for all kids, but in general I think it is.
I think what generation it is, is irrelevant. Some parents are just better at raising responsible kids instead of helicoptering. My parents would be referred to as "free range parents" now days.

msrock · Guru

You don't know that this 10 year old was mature for her age. Maybe she was playing video games and the baby was annoying her and god knows what happened. No one has even said what the baby's injuries are!