Kids Left in a Car While Mom Played Slot Machines

Lee and Fouchoy Saephan were charged with willful child abuse after they allegedly left their children in a car for about 45 minutes while they were at a California casino.

“The children were crying, screaming, sweating profusely, and their skin took on a reddish tint,” Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Erica Stewart said.

While there are no reliable statistics on how often gambling leads to child abuse, this is one of several cases of parents leaving children unattended.

Earlier this month, a couple was arrested in New York City after leaving their two-month-old baby in the car for 20 minutes while they watched the Kentucky Derby.

Police in major gambling cities like Las Vegas have said they don’t consider leaving children locked in cars outside casinos a serious problem – because of recent zero-tolerance policies. But, the advocacy group Children and Cars found at least 32 such cases between 1994 and 2003.

According to Jeannette Fennell of Kids and Cars, most injuries and deaths related to unattended children in cars happen quickly. Last year, 232 children died in accidents.

These deaths can result in significant jail time for caregivers. Terri’s nanny, Lynn Revere, was sentenced to 40 years in Louisiana state prison for leaving her child in a locked van while she played poker. Antonio Balta was sentenced to 20 years for leaving his 9-month-old daughter in a car while he went to a track meet.

Therapists and psychiatrists have suggested that many parents who leave their children alone in the car are likely to have a gambling addiction. Many Americans don’t have the option of gambling online, so they have to find land-based casinos and take their children with them if they have no one to leave them with. Sure, some manage to play at Canadian dollar casinos and other foreign sites, but most bet offline.

“They’ll do anything, even leave their kids in the car, just to be able to gamble,” says Colleen Moore, a counselor with the Illinois Addiction Recovery Institute.

“We see families suffering financially, spiritually, and emotionally because their loved one is involved in gambling,” she said.

Richard Rosenthal, chairman of the Department of psychiatry at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, said gambling addiction is not much different from addiction to drugs or alcohol.

“It’s a compulsive behavior over which they’ve lost control,” he said.

A 1999 report by the National Commission on the Effects of Gambling found that child abuse and neglect are more common among compulsive gamblers.

“The impact on the lives of these unfortunate individuals and their families is staggering,” said Timothy Kelly, the commission’s director.

“It’s not that these are bad people. But they’re engaging in activities that are so powerful that they have literally run away from their own lives and also literally forgotten that their child is in a car and dying,” he said.