This story honestly terrifies me. In America, most parents are required to go back to work after their maternal or paternal leave expires. Unfortunately, with the prices of things now, very few parents can afford to live off of one salary.
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Without one parent staying home that means you are relying on other people to take care of your children. If daycare is too expensive that means you resort to nannies and babysitters. Well, this family endured a horror story when their toddler was found wandering alone while their babysitter got so drunk she almost died.
Finding A Reliable Nanny/Babysitter Is Hard Work
Searching for a nanny or babysitter can be tough. After all, how do you ensure that the person you are entrusting your child with is reliable? Well, you either go off of friend and family recommendations or off of accredited sites. While some sites may look professional, they can host some bizarre applicants. Nanny Lane appears to be one of those sites.
When exploring the site myself it looked professional and reliable. The way the information was laid out seemed logical and the applicants seemed friendly and like they had solid backgrounds. However, I discovered, through a bit of research, that it is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. Not that that necessarily means they are a bad site, however, that is not all.
Additionally, the site has scored an "F" rating from the BBB due to multiple customer complaints. Here are some of the complaints about the company.
"NanyLane is overpriced and a lot of the Nannie's don't even have real care experience."
"I reached out to families but no one has ever responded...I'm wondering if this website is even real at this point."
"NannyLane is the most incompetent company I have ever dealt with."
"I am a parent who has been looking for over a year — I am starting to think this is not a real website....I was thinking my add may might have been used for fishing for subscriptions."
Toddler Found Alone Outside In The Cold While Babysitter Got Drunk
Despite the negative reviews, one family thought they had found the perfect babysitter. Jena Davidson had the perfect profile. A 33-year-old woman with a degree in Elementary Education and CPR training seemed like the perfect candidate, or so they thought. However, once she was left alone with the child things took a dark turn.
Davidson shared that she is a Kindergarten teacher who is "currently going back to school to be a nurse." So you would assume that she knows not only how to care for a child, but also about making healthy choices. Well, I guess she didn't learn much in school for either subject because the choice she made when watching this toddler was just downright atrocious.
The Horror Continues
A neighbor found the toddler alone outside in the freezing cold around 12:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon. The frantic neighbor gathered up the child and tried to bring the child back home. That is when this neighbor discovered Jena Davidson unconscious inside of the home. Like a good neighbor would do, they called the police.
Once police arrived on the scene they determined that Davidson had drunk to the point that she was unconscious and unresponsive. Rather than caring for the child she was paid to watch, this babysitter drank herself drunk and almost killed herself. She was taken to the hospital for care where she was given life support.
The Brigantine Police Department said this in a statement. "It was determined that the person who was hired to be responsible for the care of the child while the parents were working had consumed a significant amount of the homeowner's alcohol to the point that she became unconscious and unresponsive."
The mother of the child was informed and she immediately rushed home to her child. Davidson was later charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
