Talia Nichelle Lumpkin Charged, Leaves Baby on Road

You’ve heard of parents who leave their children
unattended in parked cars.

But here’s a Houston woman who left her thirteen-month old in a parking lot.

Yeah, a parking lot. Not a parked car.

The poor munchkin was found lying on the road with
multiple abrasions on her arms, back and legs, reports The Houston Chronicle.

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This all went down in July. The tyke was taken to the
emergency room and treated for her injuries.

Now, her mom is facing criminal charges.

Talia Nichelle Lumpkin has a lot of explaining to do.
The 23 year old has been charged with endangering a child. When she brought her
child to the hospital, she told the doctors that her child had fallen off
playground equipment.

But doctors are smarter than that. And so are child
welfare investigators.

Child abuse isn’t just the act of beating a child.
Endangering a child is child abuse.

Leaving a child in a parking lot where she gets hit by a
car is child abuse. There’s no other way of putting it.

Essentially, any act or omission that places a child at
an imminent risk of substantial harm is child
abuse.

Normally, Child Protective Services takes a child out of
harm’s way, if they determine that a child is not in good hands. But in cases
where the law has been violated, the parent (or abuser) faces criminal charges.

In some cases, such as the recent case of Elizabeth Escalona, abusive parents can spend their
whole lives in prison, even if they didn’t kill the child. Escalona was
sentenced to 99 years in prison for gluing her daughter’s hands to the wall.

Lumpkin has been released on bond, but she will still
face trial for her neglect.

Her daughter was found by Lumpkin’s sister. Lumpkin’s
sister claims that the child was left alone, wandering in a parking lot.

Like we said earlier, Lumpkin’s got a lot of explaining
to do.

Related Resources:

• Find a
  Houston Family Law Lawyer (FindLaw)
• Child Abuse
  Laws (FindLaw)
• Elizabeth Escalona Gets 99 Years For Gluing Child to
  Wall (FindLaw’s Houston Family Law Blog)