Mother of injured toddler charged

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Terae Marjorie Thomas

Mother of injured toddler charged

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Friday, May 28. 2010

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The mother of a toddler injured after being left unattended in a vehicle has been charged with two counts of first degree cruelty to children.

Terae Marjorie Thomas, 28, of Winder, was arrested Friday in connection with the May 21 incident which resulted in the hospitalization of her 21-month-old daughter.

The toddler was rushed to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta after her neck became trapped in a car window while she and her three-year-old brother were left unattended in the vehicle for an unspecified period of time.

When emergency personnel arrived at the scene, the child was unresponsive.

After several days in the intensive care unit, the toddler’s condition improved. The child is now home and is expected to make a full recovery.

Det. Sgt. Rachel Love of the Winder Police Department credited the child’s recovery to the quick actions taken by a neighbor in administering CPR and the fast response of the City of Winder Fire Rescue unit.

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#1 Me, myself, and I on 05/28/10 at 06:11 PM [Reply]

In my opinion, they made the right decision to charge her for this.

#2 A friend and co-worker on 05/29/10 at 09:34 AM [Reply]

Rae is a great mother! A good teacher and a good person! I find it very sad that Barrow County DFCS has decided to charge her with cruelty to children. Who has not left their child in the car at least once because it was not convienient enough to get them out? We see this happen all the time! This was a freak accident!!! She would never harm her children, and if she could have placed that pain on herself instead of having her daughter hurt she would have in a heartbeat!!!! Innocent people are drug through a horrible process, names slandered and lives ruined because Barrow County needs a headline!!!
It is also disgusting how the family where the husband assaulted and raped his wife IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN, went to jail for a very brief period of time and is now allowed to see his children. He was already on probation for assaulting his wife before. ONLY A 24HOUR INVESTIGATION BY DFCS WAS DONE IN THIS CASE!!!
I am very disgusted with the system in this county!

Rae is receiving much love and support from family and friends and her children love her and miss her!

#2.1 sandra on 05/30/10 at 03:28 PM [Reply]

I am sad that the mother and children are put through more stress. I pray that everyone ends up good.. Too bad that the city has turn this or turning the accident into something it is not. I am sure the mother never intended for this to happen. Hold on and God will see you through this.

#2.2 Wow on 05/30/10 at 05:40 PM [Reply]

But she did intend to leave the children in the running car......They are not charging her with hurting the kids on purpose are they? They are charging her with not taking better care.

#2.3 really? on 06/04/10 at 02:58 PM [Reply]

A GREAT MOTHER??? Really, I am sorry but a great mother doesn't leave children in the car alone. If it is too much trouble to get your own kids of the car to go into the store then I guess she should have thought about either not going to the store or maybe not having kids.

#2.4 Sparr on 06/05/10 at 09:07 AM [Reply]

This 21 month old almost died! If someone had not responded with CPR, she most likely would have. It is dangerous to leave children in a vehicle and even more in a running vehicle! Children die all of the time from such neglect. When you have children, you do not do what is convenient but what is SAFE! DFACS did the correct thing. If they had not removed the children for a thorough investigation, they would not be doing their job.

#3 Concrned parent and Child Advocate on 06/01/10 at 08:09 PM [Reply]

Every year many children die by being left in the vehicle alone. Hey common sense should tell you never to do this.
To: friend and co worker: "Who has not left their child in the car at least once because it was not convienient enough to get them out?" The answer is me and many more who never felt my children's safety was an inconvenience to me! And she's a teacher? I would expect her to have been smarter than this with so many years of college.
The number one killer of children are car accidents, yet we still have many parents that don't use car seats . At 4,5, 6, 7, 8,9....Do you really think they are big enough to use an Adult seat belt. This is all common sense yet once again so many don't have any.
There are laws to protect our children and why because there are parents who feel it's an inconvience to make their children safe.
I say praise the law for parenting when others don't!
Sandra: She didn't leave two small children unattended in a vehicle by accident..This was in no way an accident. She made a choice.

#3.1 Sandra on 06/16/10 at 02:08 PM [Reply]

She did make a choice and a bad one obviously. One that I am sure she is deeply regreting. DFACS did do the right thing by investigatin. It does not make someone a bad person or parent, I am sure all of us have made a mistake maybe not like this one. I am relieved the children are okay and survive.

#4 Who are we to judge? on 06/07/10 at 03:24 PM [Reply]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this child.
As much as our society wants to blame someone and "punish" them, the fact of the matter is that this was just a terrible accident. Was it a lapse in judgement? Absolutely. But we as humans are not infallible and none of us are qualified to be Judge and Jury on this issue. I think the family has suffered quite enough; what with the terror of realizing their child was hurt and possibly dying, to dealing with the aftermath of DFCS and law enforcement.
I am in no way condoning leaving your children alone in a running vehicle. However, NO ONE, including all you who have made judgemental comments, is perfect. Everyone should just be thankful the child is alright and try to learn from this mother's mistake so that something like this does not happen to you or someone you know.
Also, please make sure you have all your facts straight before posting a comment. Even I know that the mother was not at a store, but in her next door neighbor's driveway, while she went to pay the babysitter.
As is with most things, hindsight is 20/20 and I am pretty sure that the mother has learned from this and nothing like that will ever happen again. How about everyone take a minute to think back on a time they made a mistake or an error in judgement and then decide what kind of comment should be made....

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