A small child believed to be just 4 or 5 years old was found wandering alone Friday night near North Claiborne and St. Bernard avenues in the Seventh Ward, and New Orleans police are now trying to track down the parents or guardian. The child was discovered without any adult supervision at approximately 9:30 p.m. and has since been placed into the care of state child welfare officials.
According to WDSU, the child is currently in the care of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services while investigators work to identify a parent or guardian. The outlet reports that NOPD's Child Abuse Section is handling the case, and that the investigation remains active.
As FOX 8 Local First reported Saturday, the department is publicly appealing for help locating the child's family. Officers have not released the boy's name, and the circumstances that led to the child being alone on Claiborne Avenue have not been disclosed.
No Word Yet on What Happens Next
It's not yet known whether investigators have identified or located the child's parents or guardian, or what the next steps will be in the case. The same unanswered questions hung over the Seventh Ward neighborhood for hours after the child was first found, with no public update yet on the search's progress.
Cases of young children being found alone on New Orleans streets are not unheard of, though each has unfolded differently. In one past incident, a girl was found wandering on her own near Chef Menteur Highway and Sherwood Drive around 7 a.m., with a search for her family underway.
A Decade-Old Case With a Similar Shape
A similar scene played out more than a decade ago, when NOPD searched for the guardian of a 3- or 4-year-old girl found wandering at Franklin Avenue and Abundance Street at around 12:45 a.m. on a Saturday, according to NOLA.com. That child, identified only by her first name, Traniya, was reunited with her family by around 10:15 a.m. that same morning, the outlet reported at the time.
Those past cases don't determine how this one will end, and there's no confirmation yet of the current child's name, condition, or how they came to be alone on Claiborne Avenue. For now, NOPD's Child Abuse Section continues to lead the search for answers, with the child remaining in the custody of Louisiana's child welfare agency.
