Police: Parents Courtney Followay and Gavin Aldridge, arrested after giving away toddler/Parents will not be charged

(CNN) -- A Cleveland couple faces child endangerment charges after giving away their neglected 2-year-old girl, authorities said.
The parents were arrested Thursday after authorities learned that they gave away the toddler 10 days earlier, according to Cleveland police reports.
Police got a tip Thursday and went to the parents' home, where they found an emaciated pit bull and fecal matter. The child was nowhere to be found, police said.
Officers learned the suspects had given the child away to friends in their neighborhood, who said they agreed to take custody of her if the couple agreed to get help for their alleged drug addiction, according to police reports.
The parents, Courtney Followay, 23, and Gavin Aldridge, 24, face charges of child endangering, obstructing official business and cruelty to animals.
When the child was given away, she had bug bites and her eyes were crusted shut, police reports said.
Officers gave the child to her maternal grandmother after she was taken to a hospital.
"I can't imagine what this child was thinking about or going through at the time," the grandmother, Theresa Cox, told CNN affiliate WJW. "That's what concerns me the most is what she went through and why she should have to go through that."
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So sad for the baby, but at least these "parents" gave the baby away and didn't kill her or let her be "kidnapped". Hopefully now she will have a happy, safe life.

Gavinsgrammy, you're right. At least they had the sense to do something right by the baby. Now lets hope that DCS doesn't get in the middle of this one and mess it up.

thankfully this baby is alive. I just hope the grandma is a better parent than the mom is!

Slys Hunny wrote:thankfully this baby is alive. I just hope the grandma is a better parent than the mom is!

That is my thought, and where was this grandma before?? Why did the parents give the baby to a friend in the neighborhood instead of a grandparent? The friends were evidently aware of their drug use and I suppose were trying to be protective and helpful.

The baby was covered in bug bites. Where was Grandma for the last 2 yrs? Did she live out of town or in another State?

Grandmother Says Crack Made Daughter Give Away Toddler
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Police: Cleveland couple gave away neglected toddler so they could do more crack

'Crack couple' allegedly gives away toddler in order to manage their time more effectively to do drugs

Two-year-old Neveah Aldridge was reportedly given away by crack parents. Screen shot via KTLA.

A Cleveland, Ohio couple, Courtney Followay, 23 and boyfriend Gavin Aldridge, 24, reportedly gave their 2 year old toddler, Neveah Aldridge, to a family friend so they could continue doing drugs without the burden that a child brings. The man who took the baby, Tony Gangeri, reportedly told the Cleveland Police that he agreed to take little Neveah on the sole condition her parents promised to kick their illicit drug habit.

Baby Neveah was given away to the man about 10 days ago with her eyes crusted closed and covered in full body bug bites. Naveah’s parents own a pit bull which police say was emaciated and covered with fleas. Police reports also noted fecal matter all over the carpeting and the walls.

Followay’s mother, Theresa Cox told KTLA that her daughter and boyfriend are addicted to crack and that drugs has ruined her family. Cox has been estranged from her daughter and grandchild for several months now, which is why she claims she didn’t know that Neveah was given away to a nearby family friend.

Cox has says she will now file for custody of Neveah and says she’s hurt that her daughter would do this to her own child.

Cox told KTLA, “I didn’t teach her to do things like that and it hurts me.”
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So, where was little Neveah for the past 10 days?

Police say a couple streets away from home at her parents' friend's house on Crossburn Avenue.

"I was taking care of the baby. I was feeding her and watching her," said Tony Gangeri, a friend of Followay and Aldridge.

In 10 days this Neighbor did not take the baby to the Dr?

They brought us their daughter because the grandparents, Courtney's mother, hasn't been in the child's life for the past three months," added Gangeri. Police took the child to Fairview Hospital, where she was treated for bug bites, abrasions and an eye infection before being released to the girl's grandmother.

Was this tough love going on from the Grandparents? Guess who paid the price for that tough love?

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) -
No child endangering charges will be filed against two parents who tried to give their child away.

The city prosecutor ruled that there wasn't enough evidence, even with a piece of paper trying to make the giveaway look official, for the parents to be charged.

Gavin Aldridge and Courtney Followay gave their 2-year-old daughter to a friend because they felt they had drug problems and needed to get clean. The couple even signed her over with their own document.

Investigators found the child had been living on the west side in filthy conditions. The child even had bug bites all over her body.

Sources close to the case say a city prosecutor found mom and dad tried to do the right thing by giving the child to a friend, trying to put the girl into better hands.

Oddly this week, dad went to prison for a year in an unrelated robbery case.

Relatives tell 19 Action News that the child is now with a grandmother. Cuyahoga County Social workers will have a hearing deciding the child's future soon.
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I can't believe it!! Yet the father went to prison for robbery? I hope this grandmother is good to her!! OMG!