Last night, my little sisters walked home from the store and saw a man shouting from his car. A baby younger, probably younger than 2 was in the middle of the street and with a dog. The man was shouting because there was no adult to be found. (thread)

My little sisters grabbed the baby's hand and saw a door open. They took him there and started shouting in the house for help. A boy, about five years old came down some stairs. He said nobody was home. They told the boy to keep the toddler inside.

When my sisters came in the house, they told me what happened, and said that a woman looked like she was taking down the address to call the cops or the CPS. I didn't want anyone to lose their kids, so we ran back to the house to wait outside.

When I knocked on the door, the toddler climbed on the couch and opened it again. My heart dropped. We decided to wait there until someone came home. I walked to the salon on the corner to asked if they knew the family.

A stylist said the boy had wandered in the shop, alone, about an hour earlier. She called the shop's owner, who tried the reach the boys' mother, but nobody answered.

I walked back to the house and a neighbor came outside. I asked if she knew the mother, and she said yes. The woman seemed defensive and scared. I asked her to contact the mother, and she said she didn't have her number and went back inside.

The neighbor came back outside and walked near the boys and said she was their grandmother. She asked if I was a social worker. I told her no, but I was afraid that someone would call a social worker to take these kids.

My sister and I weren't sure what to do, whether to believe the neighbor. We walked back to the salon who confirmed that the neighbor was the grandmother, so after further discussion, my sister and I walked back home.

It's absolutely terrifying, what could have happened to those children. The toddler could have been hit by a car or abducted off the streets. The house could have set fire or the kids could have had a bad accident. Who knows what if my sisters just hadn't been walking home

The mother could have lost custody her children, and I'm sure that some people believe that is exactly what should happen. That she's undeserving of parenthood

I don't know what was going on that caused her to leave; if it was an emergency or leisure. I don't know if she trusted her mother to watch the kids and the grandmother didn't, for any number of reasons.

But what I do know is that the city and the state would send cops and social workers to that family's house. The mother could have spent time in court fighting to get them back. A foster care parent would get checks to support the boys. The mother could have been imprisoned

That money, time, and energy put into "correcting" the mother could pay for every neighborhood to have a free, 24 quality childcare center, so when parents run errands, they can drop their kids off in a safe and trusted community environment. We could pay people $70k each

This is what we mean by defund the police. This is what we mean by "we keep us safe." There are endless ways to support people that does not rely on incarceration and it can prevent harm from happening.

Update: my sister and I just went back. Nobody answered the door. The salon owner said that she’s watched the baby before and will call me when she gets a hold of the parent. She’s also gonna lookout in case it happens again. She said the grandmother is usually more on it