A mother living in the Southeast D.C. area is asking for answers from the school district after her two children were released to a woman claiming to be the child’s parent, DC News Now reported.
Capria Phillips said she received the worst phone call of her life while at work on March 7 from Turner Elementary School, where her two boys attend. Her boys, 5 years old and the other 4 years old, were reportedly kidnapped from the school building after school officials gave the children to a woman named
“Jessica”
who claimed to be the legal guardian of the children. Phillips was informed by school attendants, who later found out they released the children to a stranger, that the children were already taken, asking if she knew the woman which Phillips did not.
The frantic mother rushed over to the school but her children were already gone.
“My children were basically given away that day,”
Capri told DC News Now.
“Those few hours, everything was going through my head. I didn’t know if I’d see my boys again, I didn’t know if they’d come back harmed or not,”
said Phillips.
According to a court affidavit, a woman who had previous relations with the kid’s father, showed up to the school using a
“fictitious name of ‘Jessica Smart’ and stated she was the mother of (the children). The school failed to check ID and confirm that (she) was the children’s legal guardian.”
Documents also state that the woman
“later used the kids as leverage to contact their father,”
who she also shares a son with, in an attempt to
“see the son she shares with him.”
Police were able to locate the woman and safely recover the children. The woman was charged with two counts of kidnapping. Phillips has also taken her kids out of Turner Elementary School and wants an apology and actions enforced to prevent this from happening to any other family.
In a statement, the District said,
“DC Public Schools takes any incidents or allegations regarding student safety and well-being very seriously. The Turner Elementary School administration worked closely with DCPS Police and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to promptly address this matter on March 7.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
