Police: Mother of 3-year-old found wandering streets will not face charges

A Vancouver woman whose three-year-old son went missing for more than three hours Thursday was reunited with the boy today. Police say the woman will not face charges.

An employee of Washington Elementary School, 2908 S St., found the boy running down a Rose Village street and called 911 at 12:51 p.m. She took the boy to the school, where she was met by police.

The agency made 2,700 reverse emergency calls to try and locate the boy’s parents, but after that failed the boy was taken into foster care for the evening, Sgt. Mike Knotts said.

The mother of the boy discovered her son missing just after 4 p.m. when she received a call from a relative who had seen the news coverage of the missing boy, and checked on her child.

The woman told police that the boy had been napping, and that he normally naps for several hours, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said.

“When the child is safe and taken care of, and mom has been located, our involvement is probably going to end unless there is something unusual,” Knotts said.

In this case, he said, there was no indication of a crime and so the case was turned over to Child Protective Services.

The boy stayed with a foster parent overnight said Chris Case, spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services.

The agency conducted an investigation today and released the child to his mother.