Mom Arrested For Leaving 4-Year-Old Home Alone With List Of Instructions To Take Care Of Herself

A Southern California woman is facing child endangerment charges after she left her 4-year-old daughter home alone while she took off on a day trip with friends.

According to NBC Las Angeles, 28-year-old Bing Chen was arrested earlier this week when a neighbor called authorities on Monday to report the child was in the house by herself.

A neighbor child, 9-year-old Tanner Kurete, was playing with friends when he heard the girl screaming and crying inside the house.

“They looked in the window and saw a little girl screaming, pulling her hair and was really upset, so they knocked on the door,” Kurete’s mother told ABC 7 News.

According to Tanner, the little girl then came to the door.

“We knocked on the door and she came to the front door and answered, ‘Mommy, mommy,’ jumping and screaming, ‘Mommy, mommy. I want my mommy,'” Tanner said. “I went and told my mom.”

The police were alerted, and arrived at the home around 8:30 p.m, where they found the girl alone. Neighbors later reported having heard the child crying off and on since about 3:00 that afternoon.

The San Bernardino Count Sherriff’s Department attempted to locate the young girl’s parents, but was unable to reach Chen. They then called the girl’s father, who was in Taiwan on business trip.

The father told authorities that he was out of the country on business, and that he thought Chen was there taking care of the child.

Chen arrived home about two hours later and admitted to authorities that she had left the child alone earlier in the day without arranging for anyone to take care of her. She had gone on a road trip with friends to San Diego, two hours away from her Rancho Cucamonga home.

The mother also allegedly told deputies that she thought it was fine to leave the child alone because in China, she could do that as long as she left food for her and a list of detailed instructions on when to eat and what time to go to bed – which she had done.

Deputies had found the note and some food while searching the house before the mother’s arrival, but Kurete told ABC 7 that the food was too high for the child to reach by herself.

The girl was taken by Child Protective Services. Chen was arrested and charged with child endangerment and placed under $100,000 bond.

In a similar case, the Inquisitr reports that a mother was arrested earlier this month for leaving her toddler sleeping alone in the car while she gambled in a Baltimore casino.

What do you think is a fitting punishment for parents who leave their children to fend for themselves while the entertain themselves?

[Image via KTLA]