A mother in South Carolina named Debra Harrell went to jail earlier this month, charged with “unlawful conduct towards a child.” Whatever she did must’ve been well-deserved, right? Not so much. Harrell’s alleged crime: Her daughter was “left behind at a nearby park, for hours at a time.”

This all because Harrell works at a McDonald’s, and for most of the summer, her daughter had stayed there with her, playing on a laptop that Harrell had saved up to buy her. But when their home was robbed, and the laptop was stolen, the little girl asked her mom if she could stay at the park that was practically adjacent to the McDonald’s to play. Harrell said yes, equipped her daughter with a cellphone, and allowed her to play at the park, surrounded by about 40 kids at any given time, three days in a row. But the third day, an adult asked her where her mom was. When she said she was at work, the other parent called the police, who declared the girl “abandoned.”

While some who think Harrell was putting her daughter at risk, most believe it’s nothing short of ludicrous that a mom could be thrown in jail for allowing her 9-year-old to play like a normal kid at the park instead of keeping her cooped up inside, staring at a laptop all day while she’s working.

What do you think?

To read more about this case, check out this opinion in The Atlantic

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