Tiffany Ervin gave her 3-year-old daughter alcohol.

**nurseronda** · November 17th, 2008, 11:27 PM

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A Rock Hill woman faces charges after police say she gave her 3-year-old daughter alcohol early Monday morning.

The girl told a police officer she had liquor to drink, and the officer smelled it on her breath when he bent over to talk to her.

Minutes later, that 3-year-old was at Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill taking a blood-alcohol test. It showed a level of .067. That's below the legal limit of intoxication for an adult, but experts say, still dangerous for a child.

"I can't see anybody doing that to a child," said neighbor Davina White.

White lives in an apartment complex in the Boyd Hill neighborhood, a few doors down from where police said the incident happened.

"That could've killed her child," White said.

Tiffany Ervin, 26, is charged in the case. She told Rock Hill police that it was an accident, and that her daughter had picked up a mixed liquor drink off of a table and taken a few sips of it. She admitted to police that she had been drinking, too, according to the police report.

The woman who lives at the apartment, a friend of Ervin's, said it was not a big deal. She called it an accident as well.

Janet Martini runs Keystone Substance Abuse Services in Rock Hill, an agency that deals with many alcohol cases. She said some involve children, but never this young. She said accident or not, the child is lucky.

"It probably goes on a lot more than we know," Martini said. “This could cause alcohol poisoning, coma, brain damage. It would be somewhat like a child ingesting poison, or just drinking something from underneath the kitchen sink."

The child did not require medical treatment at the hospital, and the Department of Social Services allowed her to be released into the care of relatives.

Ervin is charged with unlawful neglect of a child and is out of jail on $1,500 bond.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/18001282/detail.html

**blue_zombie** · November 18th, 2008, 12:01 AM

Not a big deal? You could have MURDERED an innocent who was obviously thirty and couldn't get the drunken parental figure (aka mom to some I guess) to get her a cup of juice!!!!! But drunken mamma doesn't think it's a big deal because she was drinking too. I suppose if there was moldy rotten pizza sitting on the coffee table and you were too lazy to get off your fat ass to make the kid a meal that wouldn't be a big deal either. WTF????!!!!

TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!!!! THEY ARE ALL YOU HAVE!!!!!

**Nell** · November 18th, 2008, 02:59 PM

I give Serendipity rum and coke in her bottle every afternoon so she takes a good long nap and I can get some rest. Is that wrong?

**Ladyeridan** · November 18th, 2008, 03:06 PM

ok, my daughter hasn't managed to get ahold of any booze in my house as yet, but I have a two year old, and i know from experience that anything left within her reach that mommy's drinking, WILL get sampled by hook or by crook.

Could be as easy as leaving a semi-strong rum and coke somewhere where she THOUGHT the kid couldn't reach, and it did. lord knows, sometimes it amazes me what Baby Raidkiller can actually reach. Of course, I'd be saying differently if i thought this was intentional, but i think it was just poor planning.

**Etoile** · November 18th, 2008, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by Nell

I give Serendipity rum and coke in her bottle every afternoon so she takes a good long nap and I can get some rest. Is that wrong?

That's amusing, but it's also based in fact...didn't people used to rub bourbon on babies' gums to help them sleep?

**Nell** · November 18th, 2008, 06:35 PM

My mom did. She said it was for teething but I think it was for the peace and quiet.

**Athena** · November 18th, 2008, 06:36 PM

The whole "it could have killed the baby!" thing is a bit of an overdramatization, in my opinion. Enough alcohol could kill anyone. This child did not have a BAC in that range.

When I was a kid and my little sister was about 3, she got ahold of a glass of brandy at a dinner party my parents threw and took a big 'ol swig before anyone could grab it from her. It wasn't neglect or abuse, it was "shit happens". Just because it doesn't happen to you doesn't mean it can't happen easily.

Anyone know why the police were there to begin with? This kid didn't even require medical treatment. This woman being charged with unlawful neglect is a bunch of bullshit, unless there was more to this story.

**Rockin Ma** · November 18th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Did I read that right? The person who runs the substance abuse program is named Janet Martini? That's really funny to me for some reason.

**Etoile** · November 18th, 2008, 06:37 PM

Right, I knew I'd heard of it. This story is, of course, entirely different...but giving babies alcohol isn't entirely unknown. Although one assumes that it is for babies and is not a lot.

**Etoile** · November 18th, 2008, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by blue_zombie

Not a big deal? You could have MURDERED an innocent who was obviously thirty and couldn't get the drunken parental figure (aka mom to some I guess) to get her a cup of juice!!!!! But drunken mamma doesn't think it's a big deal because she was drinking too. I suppose if there was moldy rotten pizza sitting on the coffee table and you were too lazy to get off your fat ass to make the kid a meal that wouldn't be a big deal either. WTF????!!!!

TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDREN!!!! THEY ARE ALL YOU HAVE!!!!!

Wait, what makes you think she was thirsty? What makes you think the girl didn't just see Mommy's drink and want to try some? I'm not saying you're wrong or right, I'm just asking what makes it seem that way to you?

**Athena** · November 18th, 2008, 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by Etoile

Right, I knew I'd heard of it. This story is, of course, entirely different...but giving babies alcohol isn't entirely unknown. Although one assumes that it is for babies and is not a lot.

Shit...When my boyfriend was a kid, his step dad gave him a couple of shots of wild turkey in lieu of cough syrup one evening to help him sleep. Ironically, years later, his mother was kicked out of a restaurant and threatened with CPS for feeding ice cubes to her infant grandaughter out of an empty glass that once contained an alcoholic drink (absolutely NO danger in that).

We can thank MADD for the rabid hypersensitivity regarding alcohol in this country. Not saying we should intentionally feed our kids booze all the time, but in Europe, kids will start with watered down wine as soon as they're old enough to sit at the table, sometimes, and you don't hear any crazy bitty screaming, "That could KILL them!"

It's just really exaggerated over here and it's kinda silly.

**Nell** · November 18th, 2008, 06:46 PM

I know so people this has has happened too, including me at one time, during a Christmas party. That is why I made the dumb comment about my kid and her bottle. But really, to have the kid taken away? Damn, I should never admit my own personal parenting mistakes for fear CSD will swoop in and take her away.

**MichaelJCheaney** · November 18th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Ervin is charged with unlawful neglect of a child and is out of jail on $1,500 bond.

So does that mean that lawful neglect is just not getting caught?

**Silvahalo** · November 18th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Etoile

That's amusing, but it's also based in fact...didn't people used to rub bourbon on babies' gums to help them sleep?

Yeah, they did. My father also wanted my mother to do that when my sister was a baby. I'm sure people still do it today thinking it's the best remedy ever!