SoCal has been sweltering in 100° heat for a week now. Yesterday, this story topped the evening news. The child in question was a 5-month old baby girl.

Every year this happens – multiple times. And every time it ASTOUNDS me that someone can “forget” their child! And it made me curious just how many times this kind of tragedy happens. Strangely enough, in this day and age when we track statistics on everything under the sun (no pun intended), there are no definitive records kept of the number of children left to die in hot cars each year. I don’t have children, but I’m sorry, I wouldn’t leave my DOG in a hot car even if I were only going to be gone for a few minutes.

Many of these cases are parents who “forget” the kid’s in the car and go to work, as was the case this week in CA. There was another, similar case last month of a preacher of all things, in Virginia (at the ironically named Cool Springs Baptist church) leaving his daughter in a hot car while he went to work. Are people so darned wrapped up in themselves that they forget their own flesh and blood?!

What can (or should) be done to the person who leaves a child to die in a hot car?

Is there anything that can be done to prevent these incidents? Is there any way to educate people not to leave their children unattended in a hot vehicle?

(side note: do these people not see the news every year????)

What can (or should) be done to the person who leaves a child to die in a hot car?

I don't know...

Is there anything that can be done to prevent these incidents?

Perhaps...

Is there any way to educate people not to leave their children unattended in a hot vehicle?


These are very tough questions to answer....probably because I'm a parent, and I have at least one time forgotten my child in the backseat of the car....You wouldn't think it was easy...fortunately I realized my folly by the time I reached my destination, and nobody was hurt.

In my case, I wasn't usually the one who brought our child to daycare...the mother was...in fact, because I drove a sports car at the time, generally, we didn't ever go anywhere with our child in it (we had the "family" car for that).....and the child was asleep at the time. Mix those all together, and add the ordinary daily stresses (what bills am I going to pay this week, what do I need to get at the grocery store...yard work, homework, regular work...all these things you think about during your drive)....I don't know...I feel for anyone who this happens to...

I think it's a reflection on our society; how overly stressed we've let ourselves become to get to the point to where we are in the world...

I think each case needs to be looked at individually...I think that the automakers, or some industrious inventor could certainly come up with a device which would let you know when you shut the car off....or shut the doors...that there is someone still in the car...something attached to the keychain, maybe...



But a dog wouldn't let you forget them....these people don't leave their children in their car intentionally. Not to downplay it, (and I wish I could come up with a better example) but it's as if you were to forget your car keys in the car...

...it's hard to understand until it (almost) happens to you.

I don't think it really makes much sense to suggest any kind of punishment for people who have done this. (I'm assuming here that we're talking about genuine accidents, not people who have deliberately injured or killed their children. That's a criminal matter and has to be treated as such.) These parents are going through a Hell which I can't even imagine. I can understand that the normal emotional reaction to such a person might be "You monster! How could you do such a thing!" but that does not justify any sort of legal punishment. (If there is clear evidence of a pattern of neglect, that's a different story.)

As has already been suggested, technology could help reduce the number of these tragedies. How about an alarm that lets you know that the child safety seat is occupied? (I hear a lot of cars that automatically beep for a lot of really stupid reasons -- to let you know that you have locked the door, for example -- so this seems possible and reasonable.)

One method of educating people about this problem might be a stark, simple TV commercial. Something like "Every year, XXX children die after being left in cars. Will your child be one of them?" Close-up of a baby's face. Cut to a close-up of a tiny coffin.

I have children, and I understand very well how this can happen with the first baby. In fact, I had reoccuring nightmares for the first six months after I had each of my children that this happened to me. New babies usually sleep in cars, and the baby seats are placed in the back, so if one parent is unaccostumed to driving around with the child (to daycare, for instance) it's pretty easy to follow the normal pattern of driving straight to work, like they've done every day for years...maybe become preoccupied with a book on tape, or something on the radio. I never forgot my baby in a car, but I forgot MANY TIMES that I had a baby in the car while I was driving....and I'm the primary caretaker.

I don't know how this can be prevented. I like Victoria's idea about the commercial. Maybe an alarm that goes off if the car is parked and locked, but there is still a weight in the baby seat.

I have three kids, I've forgotten I had a baby in the car a few times too. Usually I remember by the time I lock the car by remote or get to the store entrance or whatever. I've never actually gone into a building and left my kid in the car by mistake, but that was probably just luck rather than vigilance.

Sometimes I get a quick panic attack if I THINK I left a baby in the car

I think that a lack of sleep can have a lot to with it. I tend to get forgetful and make bad decisions when I miss a lot of sleep. And you can miss a LOT of sleep when you have a baby. So I can understand how this can happen.

Before I had kids, I used to get all righteuos and angry when I heard about this kind of thing. But now it just makes me sad - especially if the baby dies, of course. The parent isn't necessarily abusive or otherwise neglectful in general, they just had a brain fart at a tragically wrong time.

As for what to do about it, I don't think you can "educate" parents not to forget their kids. It's not like they are even aware they're doing it. But maybe an awareness-raising campaign, with PSA commercials and bumber stickers like the "Never never never shake a baby" campaign could be helpful.

Well I am not trying to be righteous but I am a parent and I have never accidently forgotten I had a kid. I don't understand this at all...but I do know many parents have their daily routines and those routines do not have much to do with the fact they have kids...which is very sad in itself but very off topic.

This is negligence..I don't feel it is just a little mistake..it is the role you take on when you become a parent..the legal caretaker.. so I do feel there is some responsibility to be had and I do feel the parents failed their legal responsibility to this child.

I think if the adult responsible was a hired caretaker, a bus driver, a school teacher or any other temporary caretaker we would demand they take responsibility and probably want to ruin any future career with children. Why should a parent be held to a different standard? Is it because we feel their loss was already too great and they they themselves are the victim..where as a teacher or babysitter instead would be seen as the perpetrator? Is that fair to the real victim..the child? It is a tough call and I am sure each case should be evaluated independently and I don't think every parent is in the right..many parents in this world unfortunately do very wrong for their children.

I lived in AZ and they announce this every summer..do not leave your kids in the car..it is a crime. Here now where I live most stores have a little sign on their front door stating the same. In Maryland where I lived last it was ILLEGAL to leave a child under 7 alone. I am sorry but I don't feel this is just a simple mistake..this is negligence. Whether you forgot, it's an accident, or you fell asleep..... you were being negligent.

I have two kids, and I too, can't believe how things like that happen. To answer the two debate questions, I'd say that perhaps we need to saturate the airwwaves with PSAs about the issue. I would imagine that doing so would it on people's minds more often, which would have more positive consequences in the long run.



I believe you really nailed it when you said these people are wrapped up in their own careers and interests. Often times, these incidences occur in Wal-Mart or mall parking lots, so it isn't as if they are truy pressed for time or anything.

Indeed, it has been extremely hot (and humid) here in So. Cal. Yesterday,
after I picked my kids up from school we had several errands to run. As we
were driving around I was thinking of the heat, as it related to them. Are
they getting enough liquids, etc.

I would have to agree with Bucket in that I find it startling that a parent
could/would accidentally leave their child in car (sometimes for hours) in
extreme weather conditions. Wouldn't a parent automatically think of child
when dealing with abnormal weather?



This is a tough one, because whatever punishment a parent is given will have
adverse reactions on the child of that parent, assuming the child survives.

So, I would say that if a child did not lose his/her life, then the punishment
should be mandatory parenting classes, community service, or something
else along those lines.

If the child lost his life, then the parent must be sent to prison. It is more
than negligent to be so "out of it", for whatever reason, that one's own child
ends up perishing.



I like the ideas I've seen thus far on this thread. I'll add one more:

A sticker that goes directly on the steering wheel that says DON'T FORGET
THE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed, I would like to see a post and sign that warns people to not leave their children in the car in front of every parking section. So instead of just handicapped people having signs, everyone else does because junior's parents may not be so bright.

I'll admit, this falls hard on my sensibilities as well. I can only imagine how excruciating it is for a baby to fry in a car.
Last year a man, who did not usually ride his baby in the morning left his son in the car at work and didnt realize until lunchtime! when he came outside to a crowd around his car having broken the windows and the baby was dead. He was not prosecuted and was found not guilty of neglect, the couple is now expecting another baby.
I was appalled and suspected purposeful neglect because I just could not imagine going a whole morning without some sort of flashback to the baby in the car, so it interests me that some parents here have admitted to the ability to make this mistake. I could not for the life of me imagine having such distraction, but maybe my life isnt so busy as most peoples.

I have a dog and she rode with me always as a puppy, now sometimes I think she is in the car even when she is not, she tends to be quiet in the backseat, Ive never forgotten, someone said, dogs are different? Are they really? I guess they are more active when you stop the car, but still, I find it difficult to believe one doesnt know they have something else- alive and breathing in the car.

Im not trying to be judgemental, I guess you cannot know until it happens to you and then you yourself cannot even fathom that you could do it, because I made this mistake:

The other day I left two boys, 6 and 9 y/o seatbelted in the backseat when I went into the house for something. I knew previously from Oprah that this was dangerous ( a womans child got ahold of the cigarette lighter, set the seatbelts on fire, devastating). I had forgotten, this was bad, especially because they are rambunctious and like to lock all the doors as a joke when you leave the car. Weve told them (and screamed at them) never to do this, ever! but what little kids get what you are saying and why? They frequently flip the child locks off the door when getting out just for rebellion as well no matter how many times we tell them not to.

I suppose grave mistakes can be made in our rush. Its crazy that moments of distraction can lead to such aggrevious results.

I like the idea of baby alarms and also stickers, right on the dash and maybe on the drivers side window. Also, the parents could check on each other, whoever doesnt have the baby could make a call just to be sure an hour out. Did the baby get to day care or whereever its supposed to be? Is the baby in the store with you?
It might be nerve wracking if you are doing your job as a caretaker but its safer in the longrun. Especially for first time parents, like a buddy system.

I wonder if we could arrange to program an alarm or text message into cell phones, before you leave the house to remind you every hour that you have a baby with you until you manually shut it off. Cell phones seem to do everything else these days, I dont see why not.

I agree this is a good idea. If a mother almost always takes the child to daycare, and the father takes over for a day, she should call (or vice-versa if the father is the primary caretaker). I used to do this, myself, when my husband took the baby on an outing to give me a break. I would call and ask, not "did you leave the baby?" but "how is the baby doing?" I'm just really paranoid about this.

I love doomed planet's idea of a sticker on the steering wheel - that would be pretty hard to miss!! Maybe those silly "Baby on Board" yellow signs will come back into vogue...only this time in the driver's line of sight!

I am surprised at how common this seems to be. I always glance into my car as I leave it, so I guess it just seems odd to me that someone could miss their own child. Even if you can't see the actual kid in the car seat, the car seat alone should trigger the memory "oh, yeah, junior's in there".

However, the creeps who leave their kids in the car while they go shopping or get high or whatever deserve to have the book thrown at them.

Is there anything that can be done to prevent these incidents?

If the baby is in the baby seat in the back seat, and you're driving alone; it's easy enough to put the diaper bag in the front seat as a reminder.

Call ahead to let the sitter know that you're coming, and/or to let the boss know that you'll be dropping the baby off. If the baby doesn't get where it's expected, or you get to work early, someone will be apt ask you about it.

Is there any way to educate people not to leave their children unattended in a hot vehicle?

I am amazed that there are no national statistics on this type of thing, or that it would be accepted as normal behavior. Then again, in Michigan a child could freeze to death in the winter, and several have died from exposure to heat in the summer. Further, someone could steal the car, and not be aware that a baby had been abandoned in it.

Most of us have learned to use seat belts through public advertising. Perhaps we need to bring this to the attention of the National Safety Council or the auto industry. They may start out by asking for statistics, but with babies dying needlessly... A statistic of one needless death of a baby really is too high, isn't it?

What can (or should) be done to the person who leaves a child to die in a hot car?

In Michigan, we usually see one or two stories about this a year. The most recent one to come to mind was a woman in Detroit who left her child (children?) in a hot car for three hours while she had her hair done. (A check of www.freep.com came up empty. Links are only active for 14 days.) The prosecutor, as usually happens in Michigan, charged her with open murder, and left it for the jury to decide whether it was first degree murder or negligent homicide. I believe it took nearly a year for the case to come to trial.

I know the laws in most states have to have the baby in a car seat in the back seat. Maybe someone could come up with a safe measure for the car seat to be put in the front seat next to the driver. That way baby sleeping you still know the child is there.

I don't know all the reasons it is considered "safer" to put the child seat in the back, but I know that one of them is because air bag deployment can kill a child in a car seat. A simple way around that is to have a disable switch for the air bag, but if people are so preoccupied in the first place, who's to say they'll remember to disable the air bag?

There have also been several tragic deaths associated with children who were in the passenger seat when the vehicle was in an accident.

It's funny, though. When I was little, cars were great hulking behemoths that didn't have air conditioning or even have seat belts in most cases...and yet accidents like these were nearly unheard-of. I'm beginning to think it's a symptom of our too-fast, too-busy, too-preoccupied and too-crowded society that these kinds of things are happening so often.

But, the babies became projectiles in the event of an accident. You're right that the children were probably never left in the car accidentally...because they were lying next to the parent in the passenger seat. Children were hurt and killed in crashes all of the time. Heck, my mom once simply stopped too fast and I went sailing when I was two.

There was an accident in Florida that I remember...Early 90s or late 80s. A mother was holding a very sick baby on the way to the hospital. She didn't want to put it in the carseat because she wanted to comfort it on the way. Unfortunately, they got into an accident and the baby was killed. I don't know how the case came out, but the last I heard the parents were being charged with negligent homicide.

What can (or should) be done to the person who leaves a child to die in a hot car?

In cases such as this, I'm not sure further punishment achieves anything. Willful neglect is a different matter, but if someone did 'forget'--how exactly does jail time fix the problem? Community service, perhaps, speaking to others about the problem--that is something that would seem more beneficial.

Is there anything that can be done to prevent these incidents?

Education programs...if it is mentioned more often, it will happen less often.

Is there any way to educate people not to leave their children unattended in a hot vehicle?

That's not the problem...they didn't do it on purpose, and already 'know' not to do it. I think it's something that should be addressed more through community service announcements.

In a previous post in this thread, I said:

The story was recently updated. (Details here)

This is probably the result of a plea bargain, yet she still ended up with what could be a life sentence for 2nd degree murder. If you are a parent who “forgets the kid’s in the car," and you are expecting sympathy for the resultant tragedy, don't bring your child to Michigan to die.


Perhaps not, A recent column in the Detroit Free Press, in describing "the average Detroiter," cited a 47-percent illiteracy rate as one of the problems that Detroit needs to address.

Curmudgeon, that was willful neglect on the part of the woman. She obviously didn't "forget" her children in the car. We had a similar situation here a while back (the woman was prosecuted, though the child wasn't injured). A woman left her baby sleeping in a car for four hours (during the night) so she could go gamble. Many people willfully neglect their children, those children die, and they should be charged with murder. However, there are cases when the parent absolutely does not intend to harm their child, and the neglect is not willful. I believe the law should recognize the difference (it probably does).

I was just having a similar conversation with my husband last night. We rented the video 'Star wars', which came out in theaters when we were around six or seven. My parents gave me some money and dropped me off in front of the theater back then, and picked me up afterwards. His parents did the same with him. These days, a parent would get arrested for doing exactly that. Not that I would ever, ever leave my six year old at a theater (or in a parked car), but I'm just reflecting that parents weren't necessarily better, or less neglectful, or less self-involved in the past.

i can say that in this world people are really busy that they tend to forget some of their responsibility BUT as an individual or as your role here responsibility and discipline should take place in order to avoid such accidents. A person should know his/her priorities and obligation in his/her life. Especially to parents, once you became one responsibility is next to you no matter where you go. So before you take another role in the society make sure your ready for it so you'll not cause anything that would damage your life.......

I wasn't trying to make a case that parents were better, or less neglectful, or less self-involved in the past...

My mother routinely left us locked in the car as she went about her business. Fortunately, the windows could be manually rolled down.

Mom would drop us off at summer camp for a week, and pick us up in two weeks, or three...whenever she remembered why we weren't with her in church on Sunday morning. The camp was usually very understanding, and let her write a check for the extra time. It only really became a problem the year that she left me there through the first week of girl's camp. The camp director assured me on a daily basis that they were trying to contact her...

As an adult, I was at a workshop on how to detect and prevent child abuse one day, and spent several hours after the workshop exchanging ideas with other adults who had been victims of child abuse, and with a state legislator who was trying to change the way the state handles child abuse. I spoke at the time of things my mother had bragged about:

Mom had caught my oldest brother playing on the roof, and he broke his leg when she threw him off the roof to teach him that it was a dangerous place to play.

My older brother has scar tissue which shows up on x-rays, covering about half his brain from when she broke his skull with a high heel shoe.

Both of them told the doctors at the emergency room, as instructed by our mother, that they fell down the stairs.

It was only after mother died that my oldest sister told me that all of us had been toilet trained by having our faces washed with our wet and soiled diapers...

All six of us have spent our adult lives in therapy.

Legislation made it to the Governor's desk later that year that made it a requirement that Doctor's, teachers, ministers, day care workers, and many other professions that routinely deal with children are required to report any suspected cases of child abuse or neglect. A teacher can't ignore bruises, a doctor has to report it when a child "fell down the stairs" and broke his skull, a policeman has to report the children he finds locked in a car, etc. Child Welfare is required to investigate every reported incident of suspected child abuse.

To reiterate what I said before, if you are a parent who “forgets the kid’s in the car," and you are expecting sympathy, don't bring your child to Michigan.