Jeff Davis Mom Arrested After Toddler Found Wandering the Streets

If you're a parent of a small child, my hat is off to you. While raising children, I have two myself, is about the most rewarding thing any human can do with their life, the journey from childhood to adulthood can be long and arduous.

Parents, myself included, have a multiplicity of opportunities to make mistakes. However, egregious errors in judgment that could result in the death or injury of a child can not be explained away by any reason or excuse.

Such was the case in Jeff Davis Parish when Sheriff's Deputies discovered a one-year-old toddler walking along Jeff Davis Academy Road alone. The child's parents or adult guardians were nowhere in sight. However, deputies were able to cobble together enough information to learn the identity of the child and its mother.

That mom, 27-year-old Melanie Micha Reed is now facing charges of child abandonment. Ms. Reed also had an outstanding warrant when she was taken into custody on the child abandonment charges.  It is alleged that Reed told deputies the one-year-old was supposed to have been supervised by a seven-year-old child and a three-year-old child.

This would be one of the egregious errors in judgment I referenced earlier. All of the children involved in this incident were placed in the custody of their grandmother. From what we understand all of the children are in good shape and were not injured or harmed.