It seems to be becoming an epidemic.  A parent or guardian 'forgets' that they've left their child locked inside a hot car, with tragic consequences most every time.  It's happened again in Wichita, Kansas where a foster father left a baby girl inside a scorching vehicle for nearly two hours before he remembered leaving her there.  She died.  Is this becoming a convenient excuse for parents contemplating disposing of their parental duties?

Police in Wichita report the 29-year-old man was booked on suspicion of aggravated endangerment but has not been charged with a crime, he's not expected to have to answer for his 'memory loss'.

The man alleges he "somehow forgotten" leaving the girl in the back seat after picking her up from the baby sitter late Thursday afternoon. He went inside the house with a 5-year-old child but left the baby strapped in the car seat outside.  He claims something on television eventually jogged his memory but it was too late.

It was just last month Justin Ross Harris of Marietta, Georgia forgot his own now-deceased 22-month old son in a hot SUV. He faces murder charges after authorities allege he investigated online how long it might take a child to die from heat exposure, and during the time little Cooper was in the car roasting to death, he was sexting on his phone.  rosecutors have portrayed him as a man unhappy in his marriage who exchanged nude photos with several women as his son died in a hot SUV.

Cooper's death there in Georgia has been called a homicide.

During a three-hour hearing Thursday, prosecutor Chuck Boring questioned a police detective at length, outlining evidence he said proves Harris intentionally left his young boy in the hot SUV. But defense attorney Maddox Kilgore argued the evidence was insufficient and that the boy's death was a tragic accident.

I just for the life of me, having even just babysitted in my younger years, neglecting to recall that I'm responsible for the life of another human being while their in my charge.  I mean, the sole point of parenthood and caretaking is to TAKE CARE of that child.  I think 'memory loss' is a pathetic excuse.  It just doesn't hold up for me.  But I have a feeling this won't be the last story of this kind I'll bring you before the Summer of SoJO is over.

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