Kathy Sherrer: Utah Mom Abandons 8-Year-Old Son At Hospital With Note About His ‘Rude Behavior’
Kathy Sherrer abandoned her 8-year-old son at a hospital with a note that said the boy is “rude and ungovernable.”
The Utah mother also wrote in the note that she did not want her son to remain in her home “at all,” according to police reports. Kathy Sherrer, 36, has been charged with both child abuse and child abandonment, the Daily Mail reports.
The West Jordan, Salt Lake City-area mom is now claiming that she committed no crime because she was only utilizing the Utah Safe Have law. The abandoned 8-year-old boy was about seven years too old for his mother to fall under the dictates of the state law.
Kathy Sherrer told local authorities that her son was “calling her names” and “pulling his pants down in public” while listing the rude behavior she felt she could no longer endure.
Sharing: https://t.co/LlHiy2afTe
— Charles Roberts (@mrcharleyr) March 14, 2016
The child abuse and child abandonment charges levied against Sherrer are third-degree felony and class A misdemeanor crimes. The single mom abandoned her 8-year-old son at the Jordan Valley Medical Center.
The Utah mom has four other children, ranging in age from 4 to 13, inside her home. According to police reports, Kathy Sherrer’s other four children all have special needs, and she was feeling “overwhelmed” when she left her son at the hospital.
“I thought that it was OK that we could drop them off and it was a safe haven place. I don’t think I’m necessarily a bad mother. I got more like overwhelmed,” KSL News reports. “He was calling me names, he was calling me the B word, he was pulling his pants down in public. I wasn’t sure about the safe haven laws or what it meant. I really did not know any other way to go about it.”
The Utah mom also reportedly told police investigators that the note said he so was “out of control” and required more help and assistance than what she could provide.
The Utah Safe Have law allows a parent to leave a child in a safe place only until the baby is up to 3-days-old.
The abandoned 8-year-old boy reportedly told Jordan Valley Medical Center staffers that his mother bruised him after hitting him on the arm with a spoon. Sherrer denies her son’s child abuse allegations.
After being left at the Salt Lake City area hospital on February 21, the boy approached a reception desk staffer and said his mother had abandoned him there with a note. Hospital officials immediately called the police, and the boy was placed into the care of child protective services. The child reportedly remains in state custody.
Utah mom abandons ‘rude’ 8-year-old son at hospital https://t.co/TVlGudl6Fp pic.twitter.com/Zawc0ISeyC
— NewYorkBestOf (@NewYorkBestOf) March 10, 2016
Sim Gill, the Salt Lake County district attorney, told local reporters that parents could not just simply leave children of any age in random locations and then claim to be doing so under the state’s safe haven law.
“You don’t get to arbitrarily drop children off at certain institutions,” the county prosecutor said. “You reach out to that organization, that organization helps process your child, there’s an understanding. Everybody understands what everyone’s role is. Everyone knows what they’re supposed to do. But you don’t simply say, ‘I’ve had enough and I’m going to drop off this child and no one knows who I am.'”
Gill also noted that crisis centers exist in the state, and such facilities allow parents to bring children there for assistance when they are feeling overwhelmed.
What do you think about the decision by Utah mom Kathy Sherrer to abandon her 8-year-old son at a hospital with a note about his alleged rude behavior?
[Image by Shutterstock.com]
