Dad abandons two toddlers in the rain (Winnipeg, Canada)

Is this a single dad? Notice that there is no mention of a mother anywhere. And that UNNAMED DAD abandoned these kids at the mother's cousin's house--when no one was at home. What happened to Mom?

http://www.winnipegsun.com/2012/11/02/dad-left-infants-alone-in-the-rain

Dad left infants alone in the rain

 BY ROSS ROMANIUK ,WINNIPEG SUN

FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 02, 2012 03:47 PM CDT | UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 02, 2012 11:09 PM CDT

It’s a Winnipeg case of alleged child abandonment, perhaps best described as: “What the hell were you thinking?”

A man has been charged after his two toddlers — both under two years old — were left alone on a home’s doorstep in the North End on a cold and rainy afternoon, without any caregivers in sight. The 24-year-old father allegedly put the siblings there on Oct. 20 after finding nobody home when attempting to turn them over to another member of his family.

“It would be nice to know what he was thinking. I really can’t answer that,” city police spokeswoman Patrol Sgt. Monica Stothers said Friday, when asked the obvious question. “His actions were absolutely irresponsible. That is why he’s been charged with abandonment.”

Stothers didn’t have details on what the children — one nearly two, and the other about 11 months old — were wearing when they were left on the porch amid the rain and a temperature of 8 C. Fortunately, she said, a neighbour soon spotted the kids and knew they shouldn’t be there without adult supervision.

“This could have turned into a tragic incident, but it did not because a neighbour observed it and contacted us,” Stothers said. “We’re glad to say the children are safe and secure.”

After responding to the call and getting the kids to a warm place, Stothers said, officers waited for hours outside the home for the man or any other resident to arrive. The father turned himself in to cops on Oct. 30, police said, and is charged with two counts of child abandonment.

A judge denied the man bail Thursday. Court heard officers had arrived at the house to find one of the toddlers running down the street, screaming, “Daddy, daddy.”

Court heard, as well, that the home where the children were abandoned belongs to their mother’s cousin. Defence lawyer Brett Gladstone said his client had seen someone behind a window curtain, though nobody responded to his repeated door-knocking.

Concerned that a third sibling might be missing, cops forced their way into the house and found it unoccupied and in disarray, court heard.