Mom arrested after her three young children test positive for meth, Kentucky cops say

A Kentucky mother was arrested Monday after three of her children tested positive for meth, according to Elizabethtown police.

The arrest stemmed from a child abuse investigation the police department was conducting with Child Protective Services, according to an arrest citation. Malaynah Root’s infant son suffered a large bruise on his forehead, and the boy and his three siblings were placed in protective custody, an arrest citation states.

While the children were in custody, they were tested for illicit drugs through follicle testing, Elizabethtown police said. Root’s 5-, 3- and 2-year-old children all tested positive for methamphetamine, and two of them also tested positive for THC, police said.

The infant was not tested because police could not obtain a sufficient hair sample, according to the citation. Police said “it can be assumed” he was also exposed to the drugs.

Root, 27, was arrested because she “failed to exercise reasonable diligence in the control of the children to prevent them from being neglected,” according to the arrest citation.

“For the children to test positive..., they had to be in an environment where: illicit substances were either accessible to them, being actively used when caring for them, and/or the caregiver was impaired,” police wrote.

There were no conclusive results on the infant’s bruising, according to police.

Root was arrested Monday and was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, according to court records. A $1,000 cash bond was set for her during her arraignment Tuesday.

Terms of her bond show she is not allowed to take care of any children on her own, and she must comply with drug screenings, according to court records. She remained in jail as of Tuesday afternoon

This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Mom arrested after her three young children test positive for meth, Kentucky cops say."