By Editor,Eliot Force

Copyright dailymail

A mother is in jail and a father dead after they were arrested because their non-verbal six-year-old child was found bloodied on the streets of Kennesaw, Georgia.

The little boy looked malnourished and seemed like he was living in poor conditions. He was wandering for more than 30 minutes before neighbors found him and reported the disturbing scene about 20 miles north of Atlanta, according to police.

Police fear they may never know how the boy appeared in the streets bloodied and bruised, as his mother had been ‘heavily intoxicated’ and his father suffered a medical emergency and died soon after his arrest.

‘The juvenile had injuries to his arm and leg, and there was blood coming from his arm,’ Kennesaw Public Information Officer David Buchanan told WSBTV.

‘We’re not sure if that occurred when he was outside or if it occurred at home, but it definitely was a cause for alarm and for us to find the parents and figure out what was going on.’

Police asked the child what happened to him, but they could not get any information from the little boy because he was non-verbal.

The child’s mother, 38-year-old Brittany Anderson, was asleep when police went to investigate the family’s home. She was unaware that her son was gone.

The father, 40-year-old Kaleb Anderson, told police that Brittany was supposed to be watching their son.

After officers went to investigate the house, they said it smelled like pee and that trash was strewn about the floor and furniture.

Officer Buchanan said the parents ‘were both heavily intoxicated from alcohol.’

The two of them were arrested. The mother was charged with reckless conduct and cruelty to children. The father was given the same charges but he had a medical emergency soon after he was booked.

He was sent to Kennestone hospital, where he was treated for liver disease, but later died. The exact cause of death is still being determined by the medical examiner.

The child’s grandmother came to pick him up after police responded to the incident, and he remains in her custody. Police say he is safe now.

This sad situation is reminiscent of a similar negligent and cruel parent case, when a different Kennesaw couple was arrested after a pediatrician flagged signs of abuse on their four-month-old infant son, who was later found to have multiple rib and leg fractures.

Georgia ranks 38 in the United States for child well-being, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

In 2020, 62,675 maltreatment reports were received by Child Protective Services in Georgia, representing 121,595 children. Of that number, 8,690 cases were substantiated and approximately 45,407 received an alternative response.

Between 2020 and 2023, the state of Georgia saw a 31 percent rise in official child maltreatment victim cases, according to statistics from the US Department of Health and Human Services.