A Waterloo woman who was convicted of Child Endangerment has had that conviction overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court, according to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Paula Cole was charged after she took her infant to Walmart to buy diapers, leaving her five other children- ages 12, 10, 9, 7, and 5- home alone in July 2021. While Cole was away two of the children got into a fight over food and the nine year old girl left the home and refused to return. Cole would be arrested for leaving the children home alone and creating the risk. The high court ruled that Cole had not engaged in independently unlawful behavior, was not overtly abusive, and did not create an identifiable risk that fell outside the risks of ordinary life. Judge David May went on to say, “Life is inherently risky. None of us can escape all risks. And no parent can shield a child from all risks. Rather, parents’ best hope is simply to manage life’s risks including the very real risk that our efforts to avoid one risk will end up creating new and different risks.”
