By Shawntaye Hopkins
shopkins@herald-leader.com
A Pulaski County mother whose toddler was found living among flies, cat feces and garbage is expected to appear in court Monday for a hearing on a criminal abuse charge, authorities said.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office received a report Wednesday morning about a small boy standing at a broken window in a mobile home at Four Winds Trailer Park in Somerset, pulling and pushing on the broken glass.
Chief Deputy Larry Wesley went to the trailer park and found the small boy, younger than 2, standing at the broken window. The boy had dried blood on one of his hands from a cut he apparently received while handling the glass, according to the sheriff’s office.
Witnesses told law enforcement the child had been at the window periodically for about two hours.
Wesley knocked on the side of the trailer to awaken the child’s mother, Kahyleaha F. Alcorn, 27, and her boyfriend, who were asleep in another room.
Inside the trailer, Wesley was met by the stench of cat feces and garbage. The child was living among filth and flies, deputies said. And human feces were coming from the child’s dirty, disposable diaper.
The boy was immediately removed from the home and placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services.
Alcorn was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal abuse. She is being held at the Pulaski County Detention Center with a $10,000 cash bond.
She pleaded not guilty to the charge Thursday in Pulaski District Court, and she is expected to return to court 9 a.m. Monday.
That child should be yanked from that lifestyle. That is a perfect example of a woman who does not care about her child.
Not everyone can afford fine homes, not everyone has money to spend for someone to clean their homes, but everyone who bears a cfhild should be required to take care of that child, and if you are poor, I was raised poor, my mother worked very hard to raise 8 children, I am sure there were times when she wondered where the next meal would come from, but I can never recall not having clean underwear, maybe only a couple pair, but one was always clean, and the house was always clean when I got home from school, no matter what, through four other pregnancies, and four in the house, the house was always clean and supper on the table . Therefore, I see no excuse for letting little children suffer because you are too lazy to get out of bed.
We never know for sure what another person has to endure in thir life.
However there is never an excuse for allowing a small child to fend for themself.
The only thing that could be in this situation— drugs are most likely the reason for this neglect.
Some sort of counseling should be offered to the parent. Then proff of being a good parent should be presented before a child is placed back in this sort of home life.