motel signIt's never okay to leave your child alone. And in this case, the child knew that, but his mother did not. At 1 a.m. a 3-year-old boy named Adrian started dialing numbers on the phone trying to reach someone for help because he woke up alone and afraid. He ended up dialing another room at Superior Creek Lodge, the extended stay motel in Hamilton County, Tennessee, that he was living in with his mom Angela Deville.

The neighbor called the cops. Police arrived to reportedly discover Adrian all by himself in the room, which was a total mess. Feces on the floor, dirty diapers everywhere, and as one cop described, a cloud of flies. And when the mother got there, the lying began.

Deville first told the police she was just out at the local strip club trying to get her job back. As if trying to get her job back was an okay excuse for leaving your child home alone ... in filth. It's hard being a working mom -- I get it, I really do. And while I don't know for certain, it seems she is a single mom ... who also has another child whose whereabouts are unknown. And she's only 20. So I feel for her. I do. But child neglect is serious stuff.

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Then she had an excuse for the mess, too, saying she just had her gallbladder out and the surgery prevented her from taking out the garbage. But it sure didn't prevent her from going out until the wee hours of the morning to get her stripper job back.

Well, the truth eventually came out. She went clubbing with a friend -- not to the strip club to get work. Though she maintains that the room wasn't as messy as the reports are saying.

"I did make a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. I mean, I made a mistake, but I'm not a bad mother. I love my children," Deville said.

She has a court date coming up and Child Protective Services released her kids to a family friend. Deville even said that she would take parenting classes. Which I hope she does. I hope there is some truth here, that she is a loving mother who made a bad decision. We all screw up. It's sad for the kids as well as Deville. Maybe this is a wake-up call for the young mom. I hope her friends and family rally around her and give her the support she needs, as well as her two children who deserve the loving mother that she says she is ... and she certainly can be. The child was smart to call for help, so maybe that's a sign she is teaching him good things.

Do you think this mom's initial lying about where she was shows she isn't ready to handle all that comes with motherhood? Could she turn things around?

 

Image via Sam Howzit/Flickr