Being a single mom is hard, especially when you have to work and take care of your kids at the same time. Melissa Henderson is a single mum of five from Georgia, and this dancing act got her into a lot of trouble.
Thaddeus, Melissa’s youngest boy, goes to daycare, but when the centre had to close because of a COVID-19 spread, Melissa had to find another place for him to go. She had no other choice but to ask her 14-year-old daughter to watch Thaddeus while she went to work.
When Thaddeus slipped out of the house while his sister was doing her schoolwork, things took a bad turn. A worried neighbour saw the boy playing outside by himself and called the cops.
After two weeks, Melissa was caught and charged with criminally careless behaviour. The police report talked about the risks Thaddeus was taking by being outside by himself, such as being kidnapped, run over, or bitten by a poisonous snake.
Melissa could go to jail for a year and have to pay a $1,000 fine if she is found guilty. It makes sense for the authorities to want to keep kids safe, but many people say Melissa wasn’t being careless; she was just trying desperately to meet all of her obligations.
As a single mom, Melissa may not have thought it was a good idea to let her teenage daughter take care of Thaddeus, but that’s what many single parents have to do. Melissa did what she thought was best at the time, even though she didn’t have a lot of help or tools.
The question still stands: should Melissa go to jail for what she did? Or was she just trying to get by as a mum by herself? The argument is still going on, and many people have taken to social media to say what they think.
