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Every parent makes mistakes and most of them are made because we aren’t perfect. The handle of a pot on the stove, turned outward within reach of a curious child. An open bottle of medicine on a night stand. A back door left ajar. A yard gate left open. A safety gate at the top of stairs not securely latched. Chemicals, electrical sockets, cords for blinds, matches, choking hazards, sharp objects, and a world filled with potential landmines that can harm our infant children or toddlers when we are forgetful.

Mistakes happen. Dumb mistakes that we made because, for a moment, we weren’t thinking. A busy day with a lot going on can cause a person to slip up.

That was not the case with Lisa Altif, a 32 year-old mother of a 2 month-old she left in her car while she went into a pub to have a drink. Actually, 5 drinks over 5 hours while her baby sat in a car seat with the temperature at 39 degrees that night.

As it was reported:

“Annie Halvorsen found herself hoping the parents of the crying infant in the minivan Thursday night at the Keystone Pub in Bethlehem Township, Pa., were stopping in briefly for a take-out order.

As the pub manager on duty, Halvorsen said she was alerted at 11:30 by a patron who first caught a glimpse of what looked like a baby inside the van parked in the 39-degree night air.

Halvorsen said she was shocked to hear cries of an infant when she went out to see for herself. A fellow pub employee confirmed what Halvorsen said she feared: the van had not just arrived — it had been there for hours.

“Sometimes people grab a to-go order,” Halvorsen said. “But apparently that van had been there for a long time. Everyone was concerned.”

Halvorsen immediately called police, she said. When township police officer Stephen Malitzki Jr. arrived, he went into the bar and yelled for the owner of the vehicle. Lisa Altif, 32, of Bethlehem, stood up from the bar to claim the 2001 Ford Windstar, court records say.

Altif initially told police she’d only been in the bar about 20 minutes, but receipts Halvorsen helped to retrieve and pub surveillance told a different story, authorities say. The mother had allegedly been inside the bar since about 6:30, when she ordered her first of five glasses of pinot grigio.

Police say Altif left the 2-month-old, whose bouncing sock-clad feet were spotted by Malitzki, alone for roughly five hours in a car seat strapped to the floor of the van. She got up from her bar stool only to smoke a cigarette on the bar’s patio, police said.

The baby was wearing only a onesie with light socks and covered by a light fleece-style blanket, police say. Her core body temperature was measured at 97.6 degrees after she was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in the township, authorities said. She was warmed up there before being handed over to Northampton County’s Children, Youth and Families Division, according to police.” ~ SOURCE: The Express-Times

Is Lisa Altif an alcoholic? If so, like other drunks, she will be diagnosed with a disease and society will be expected to give her sympathy for having a “disease.”

None from me. I call, Bullshit. I never believed any addiction to be a disease.

Perhaps it is a mental issue? Her family has come forward and appear to be just as upset over this incident as the public is. Both her mother and brother seem genuinely distraught. According to her brother, Lisa Altif does have mental issues. Another reason for her not to have a child under her care.

One look at her Facebook profile tells me she cares more about animals than she does about her own infant child.

On one of her Facebook posts she quoted Albert Einstein, “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.”

Act they did, knowing that she is no mother worthy of being given the responsibility of caring for a child.