[Steeltrap]

Originally posted by Honeykiss1974
Baby left in van is in state custody
The boy's father says that it was an accident and that the family is eager to get the baby back.
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

An 11-day-old Wichita boy 11 DAYS old!?! was in protective custody Monday after his mother left him in a unair-conditioned minivan -- in 100-degree heat -- for about an hour.

The infant's father said his wife accidentally left the boy in the van in the East Kellogg Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon.

The 35-year-old woman went into the store to shop with her 15-year-old daughter, said the father.

"They forgot he was with them," said the father, who did not want to be named. "She would not leave him in the vehicle intentionally."

Then, near a dressing room, the mother heard another baby crying and suddenly remembered her own infant son, the father said.

At that moment, he said, she "took off running for the van" and called 911. She was crying, he said.

All of the van windows were closed except for one, which was partly open at the top, said Lt. Roy Mitchell, supervisor of the county's Exploited and Missing Child Unit.

A dark tint on some of the windows could have helped shield the infant from the heat, Mitchell said.

The boy was admitted to a hospital for observation but did not appear to be injured, police said Sunday. By Monday, the boy was released from the hospital and in good condition, Mitchell said.

Officers did not take a temperature reading in the van, he said.

Mitchell said the baby's family was cooperating with investigators, who will present their findings to the district attorney's office. State child-welfare officials also are expected to investigate the incident, police said.

Prosecutors are still reviewing a case involving a 22-month-old Valley Center girl, Alyssa Nicole Dillman, who died after spending eight hours in a car on July 14, when the temperature reached 109 degrees.

Sedgwick County sheriff's investigators said they were told that the girl's father dropped her and her 4-year-old brother off at their uncle's house near Park City. At some point, the 4-year-old went into the house. The father, who was loaning the vehicle, got into another vehicle and left. Why the younger child remained in the vehicle is unclear, investigators said.

Monday, Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker said the Dillman case raises complicated legal questions. Among other things, she said, prosecutors have to determine whether the death was intentional, reckless or negligent.

In the latest case, although the infant has been taken into protective custody, the woman's three older children -- the youngest is 8 -- remain with their mother, Mitchell said.

The 11-day-old is "a joy" to his parents, his father said.

"We do not take our eyes off of him," he said.

Asked about their feelings now that their son has been taken into protective custody, he said: "It's hard to even say. It's a loss.

"We're sitting around the house going back and forth between crying. There is nothing we can do, either, except sit and wait on the legal system to get him back."

How can you forget your 11-day-old babyperson in the car? Secondly, why is your 11-day-old babyperson out? Back when I was an infant (in the dark ages of the 1960s), that wasn't common practice.