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Miami Child Found Home Alone Put In Foster Care

MIAMI (CBS4) – A Miami judge has placed a toddler found home alone in an apartment on Thursday in the care of a foster family.

Miami police said around 2:45 p.m. they received an anonymous call from a neighbor about a child screaming.Police said the two-year-old girl was left alone by her mother while she went out to buy drugs.  When officers arrived at the apartment in the 400 block of NW 46th Street, they knocked on the door several times but no one answered. They then forced their way inside and found the child alone in the apartment by herself.

Sultane Adesina, who knows the child's father, said Hernandez should have known better.

"I feel real bad," she said. "Why would she do something like that?"

Miami Fire paramedics checked her out and said the girl appeared to be fine. During this time the child's mother, 38-year-old Joannie Hernandez, arrived at the apartment but didn't say a word.

Police said an officer noticed her acting suspiciously and called her by name. She admitted to the officer that she was child's mother and said she had only gone "for ten minutes" to buy food.  The officers noted that she was empty-handed.

"That's dangerous," Adesina said. "You don't do that to no child. You don't leave no child home by themself. Anything can happen. I feel bad for the child. I feel bad for the child. The child is innocent. She (the mother) is an adult. She should know not to do something like that."

Hernandez, who has a history of prior arrests, was taken into custody and charged with one count of child neglect. During the temporary custody hearing, Judge Cindy Lederman ordered that she and the child's biological father were not allowed to have any contact with the girl until they attended a future custody hearing and state their case.

Neither the child's father or any other family members showed up to take care of the child.

The child was not harmed. D.C.F is investigating the incident and will determine if the child's home is fit enough for her return.

The next hearing on the matter will be March 28th.

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