Unnamed girls - 8 & 10 yo - / Accused: Mother, Kristine Noffsinger - Austin, TX

Mom checked dog into pet hotel but left girls aged 8 and 10 home alone while she went away for three days

By James Nye

A Texas mother is facing two years behind bars after she allegedly checked her dog into a pet hotel but left her two young children home alone last month.

Kristine Noffsinger, 29, of Austin, Texas is facing charges of abandoning or endangering her eight and 10-year-old girls while she traveled to St. Louis on April 17th.

Child protective services revealed that Noffsinger traveled to Missouri for three days, leaving her children to feed and bathe themselves, as well as traveling to and from school - while dog 'Teddy' was checked into a Petsmart hotel.

Tipped off anonymously that Noffsinger had left her children alone, the CPS asked Williamson County deputies to travel to her home in Round Rock and found that the unidentified children caring for themselves.

According to an arrest warrant issued for the mother-of-two, 'both children stated they were afraid while alone.' They told the law enforcement officials that they had no relatives in Texas and that their family in Illinois - from where they had recently moved.


Kristine Noffsinger was charged with two counts of abandoning a child after a child protective services investigator found she had left her two young children home alone

Child Protective Services took emergency custody of the children immediately and arrested Noffsinger when she returned from St. Louis on April 19th, the warrant said.

The 8 and 10 year old girls were moved to Illinois to be with one of the fathers after a court hearing on Tuesday.

'We have guidelines as far as what is neglectful supervision and that is placing a child in a situation where they're not mature enough to handle and leaving children home alone for several days, having them get themselves to school, make themselves breakfast, lunch, dinner , those types of things would be considered neglectful supervision,' said Julie Moody, a CPS spokesperson to MyFoxAustin.

There is no 'Home Alone' law in Texas. However, the CPS states that no child should be placed in a situation that a reasonable person realizes requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s abilities.


Kristine Noffsinger, (1st left) with her sister at a party in 2009 and ((2nd right) at another party in the same year


Kristine Noffsinger, (3rd right) at a party with friends before she left her children home alone in Austin, Texas before traveling to St. Louis

'There is a line and a fine line, but when you take yourself out of the state, you are far, far, away from being able to help these kids,' said Sgt. John Foster with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to KXAN.Com.

Noffsinger did not answer her telephone when contacted by authorities and said that she only returned home when she asked a friend to check on her children - but was told that they were not at home.

The errant mother also called the children’s school the next day and was told that they had not attended.

The court affadavit for Noffsinger also says she did not contact law enforcement when she was told her kids were not at home - but told them she thought they must have been sleeping or outside playing.

Jail records show Noffsinger was in the Williamson County jail on Tuesday on $40,000 bail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321311/Mom-checked-dog-pet-hotel-left-girls-aged-8-10-home-went-away-days.html

Story sound familiar?? At least she did not drug and duct tape the girls mouth's then stuff them in a trunk before she was caught. I just hope the father is loving and caring to the girls like a good father should be. William

OMG. She was born without a brain and she should have been born without a uterus.

Yes William, at least she didn't pull a Casey Anthony.

The father is, as I understand it, the father of only one of the girls. He must be a good man since he took them both and didn't separate them.