Please excuse if I am repetitive. I think all of these situations occurred in Somer's home life. This provided an opportunity for her to be killed.
The length of time and the time of day that the child was inadequately supervised;
the caregiver's reasoning and understanding of the situation;
the inherent danger(s) of the child's unsupervised environment (eg, a young child left home alone, unattended in a car or bathtub, or with unrestricted access to a swimming pool);
the child's level of discomfort regarding his or her unsupervised situation; (in Somer's case, it would seem that her level of understanding was that she could just take off and remain gone for however long she wanted)
the specific nature of the child's activities while he or she was left unsupervised (eg, age-appropriate play activities versus accessing *advertiser censored* on the Internet, vandalism, or shoplifting) - In Somer's case, we do not know all of her activities, all of the places she went, or who she might have had contact with for a prolonged period of time... the child's knowledge of emergency telephone numbersand procedures (if she got hurt, who would she go to for help?)
the child's knowledge and use of protocols for safely answering the telephone and/or door when he or she has been left unsupervised;
the child's accessibility to his or her parent or to another, specific, informed individual designated to be his or her caregiver IIMO who had accessibility to her, and how many caregivers did she have and in what circumstances)
Remember that some child injury risks are unpredictable or unavoidable; caregivers may underestimate the supervisory requirements for some children, and even the most careful caregiver may experience a
brief lapse
of supervisory attention, proximity, and/or continuity that leads to childhood injury
Well, this wasn't a brief lapse, it went on for a long, long time, and mom denied it right on T.V. by a common use of rationalization. A lot of people continue to insist that it isn't a problem, and that pointing it out means being unfair or critical of mom. Mom is not dead, however, but the child is.