A Texas mother has been charged with abandoning her children after they were found sitting about 30 feet away from her in a food court, according to Houston’s KHOU.
Laura Browder was asked to meet a potential employer for a job interview in the food court at Memorial City Mall.
Browder was unable to find a babysitter for her daughter, 6, and her son, 2, so she brought them with her to the mall. She bought them food and sat them at a table in the food court while she sat with her potential employer for an interview.
KHOU reports that Browder said she “wasn’t more than 30 feet away from her children at any point and they were always in her line of sight.”
When she returned to collect her children, she was arrested and charged with abandoning them.
Browder told KHOU the incident is “one big misunderstanding”:
According to KHOU, Browder said in a statement that the incident was “very unfortunate”:
I had a interview with a very great company with lots of career growth. I am a college student and mother of two. I would never put my name, background or children in harms way intentionally. I have a promising future ahead of me regardless of what the media tries to portray me as. A judge released my children to me knowing that I was a good mother who just made a not so smart decision. My children weren’t even 30 yards away from me, I fed them and sat there with them until it was time to meet with my interviewer. This too will pass and I am not concerned with [what] outsiders have to say or what they think.
Browder was offered the job, but she told KHOU she is unsure if her arrest has terminated the offer.
Child Protective Services told KHOU that they are beginning an investigation of the case.
