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Wake County, NC (WLOS) — A Wake County mother has been charged with leaving her two young children on a Cary road and speeding away, according to police and the arrest warrant.
Jennifer Westfall, 38, is accused of dropping her nine-year-old and 19-month old off on the side of Reedy Creek Road on October 2.
The children are fine and in foster care, but the mother told ABC11 that is not what happened.
Police say a woman taking her child to Reedy Creek Elementary witnessed the incident. She then picked the two children up, and took them to the school.
School administrators alerted the school resource officer who in turn called Child Protective Services.
The mother, on the other hand, said that she drove into the school’s campus, dropped her kids off, and watched a woman take them by the hand, which she thought was a legal way to abandon the children.
“I know what I did was wrong but I just, I was so tired of doing this by myself. I have the strength to do what I need to do but I don’t have the skills to make the income that I need to take care of my family, and nobody will hire me. I’ve been around everywhere. And with these charges I just don’t see how I’m ever getting my kids back,” said Westfall.
But, in North Carolina, only infants a few days old can be left with another adult in order to be considered legal.
CPS and Cary police investigated and decided to charge the mother with two counts of misdemeanor child abuse.
Westfall was arrested at her Fuquay-Varina home Monday.
She was released from jail last night and is due in court next month.
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