Single mother charged for leaving kids ‘30 feet away’ during job interview

A mother was charged with abandonment after seating her children 30 feet away in a mall food court while she had a job interview.

Laura Browder said that her children – a 6-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy – were always in her line of sight during the interview, KHOU reports.

Having just moved to Houston, Browder said she didn’t have enough time to line up child care.

But when the interview was over and she returned to her children, there was a police officer on site waiting to arrest her.

Someone at the mall had called the officials saying that the children were left in the food court crying, reports Raw Story.

“It was very unfortunate what happened,” Browder said in a statement. “I had an interview with a very great company with lots of career growth.”

The arrest came just moments after she had been offered the job and accepted it, leaving her unsure about whether it would affect her new opportunity.

Browder, who is a college student and a mother of two, said that she would never put her children, her name, or her background in harm’s way intentionally.

“A judge released my children to me knowing that I was a good mother who just made a not so smart decision,” she said in a statement.

“I have a promising future ahead of me regardless of what the media tries to portray me as,” Browder said. “This too will pass and I am not concerned with [what] outsiders have to say or what they think.”

Child Protective Services are currently investigating the case, but say that they could offer services to help the young mother find suitable daycare.