The Worst Cases of Parental Neglect

Today’s bad economy, paired with a disappearing standard of parental responsibility, leaves more children than ever at risk for being lost within their own homes. Whether it is drug or alcohol abuse, the economy, mental illness, or a sad unwillingness to be a real parent, police officers are increasingly stepping in to fill the parental void that exists in desperate kids’ lives.

A sad and unsettling story emerged from Franklin, Ohio, last week: A police local officer encountered a seven-year-old boy on Aug. 7 who was standing in front of a local CVS. He was there trying to sell his own teddy bear so he could get money for food. The hungry child reportedly had not eaten for days.

“There are so many officers like Dunham who exemplify what it means to care about the members of the community they serve,” said one NYPD officer.

“It broke my heart. He told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn’t eaten in several days,” Franklin Police Officer Steve Dunham told local station WLWT.

The officer was so disturbed by the boy’s plight that he took him to a local Subway immediately. The big-hearted cop and the hungry boy “said a little prayer and ate dinner together,” said Dunham.

Two officers went to the child’s home while Dunham took the boy to the police station after their meal. The officers found liquor bottles, garbage, and cat urine in their Main Street house, according to a police report obtained by the Journal-News of Butler and Warren counties.

[lz_third_party includes=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSdTQkQjxu0″]

A New York City police officer talked to LifeZette about the case and said he recognized the traits shared by fellow officers nationwide.

“Officer Dunham’s actions go above and beyond standard procedure and are worthy of the media recognition the story has received,” Officer Paul Grattan told LifeZette. “There are so many officers like Dunham who exemplify what it means to care about the members of the community they serve — especially the children. Unfortunately, most of these stories usually go unnoticed.”

The Bethel parents, who have a total of five children — ages 17, 15, 12, 11, and 7 — had not even realized their youngest was missing, according to Goalsdaddy.com.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”More Cases of Neglect This Summer”]An Arizona mother faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of her 22-month-old daughter. The mom, Natalie Renne Russell, 30, was arrested July 26 after her daughter consumed methadone and died. An exam showed the child had toxic levels of methadone and methamphetamines in her system, Fox10TV reported.|A Florida mother was arrested while driving around under the influence of drugs with her 2-year-old son in the car, police said. After Agostina Nicole Frasca, 26, was pulled over in Broward County, an officer smelled marijuana and saw that Frasca had “a white powdery substance caked under her left nostril and on her dress.” Sitting within reach of the child was a bag of marijuana and two bags of cocaine, NBC Miami said.[/lz_bulleted_list]

Child welfare officials removed all five children from the parents’ care and placed them with other relatives, according to the News-Journal. A judge ordered the Bethels not to have any contact with the children.

Investigators believe the house showed “a substantial risk of health and safety by neglecting the cleanliness in the residence, having a large amount of bugs and spoiled food throughout the residence, not having properly prepared and packaged food for the minor children to eat, and allowing a seven-year-old child to wander from the residence without their permission or knowledge, in an attempt to locate food.”

Incredibly, the mother of the kids living in filth and squalor remained defiant — and oblivious to the sickening and dangerous situation she and her husband, Michael Bethel, had put their kids in.

Tammy Bethel went onto the Franklin police Facebook page last Friday to say her house is normally clean — and the CVS where police found her son is very close to her home.

She also said the house was dirty after her kids had friends over recently — yet this would not explain cat urine, brown liquid pooling in the refrigerator door, and liquor bottles, as any thinking person knows.

“The cop just popped up on the wrong day — I hadn’t had a chance to clean the mess that all them kids had made and yes I was arguing with my kids to help clean the mess up,” Bethel wrote. “BTW my kids didn’t even eat the food that the cops brought them because they had just ate.”

Related: Parents Need More Discipline

The parents face five counts of child endangerment charges ahead of a court appearance next month. They pleaded not guilty. While the individual details of this family’s economic picture are not known, the squalor — including liquor bottles — that the children lived in suggest a potential alcohol problem that may be exacerbated by a faltering economy.

Stories of poverty and drug abuse by parents all over the U.S. are supported by new research that shows a direct link between the two.

“Pick yourself up, own it, and be a better parent. Nobody hates you, but you need to do better,” wrote one commenter on Facebook.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the University of Colorado Denver published a working paper recently illustrating an “undeniable inverse relationship” between drug abuse and the economy overall. According to the data, when one sinks — the other rises, as despair is a powerful motivator for drug use.

“There is strong evidence that economic downturns lead to increases in substance use disorders involving hallucinogens and prescription pain relievers,” the new report, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, confirms.

People on Facebook were quick to offer jeers — but also a path forward. “You’re trying to defend the indefensible,” said one Facebook commenter on the Bethel Police Department page. “Just pick yourself up, own it, and be a better parent. Nobody hates you. But you need to do better.”

Franklin Police Chief Russell Whitman praised his officers’ quick and decisive action in an interview with WLWT — and also offered hope for a brighter future for the Bethels. He said he hoped that “these officers’ actions changed these kids’ lives and maybe changed the lives of the parents, to become better parents,” Whitman said.

“In my 15 years with the NYPD, I cannot recall an officer who, even on his or her worst day, didn’t step up and help a child in need,” added Officer Grattan. “It’s what we do.”