Central Los Angeles : Women Back Mother Investigated After Fire

A group of African American women expressed their support for Kesson Mandolph, 20, a single mother who faces losing custody of her three small children after they were burned in a fire that broke out in her apartment on Dec. 4 while she briefly left them unsupervised.

The fire was started by the children who were playing with matches in a closet, a city Fire Department spokesman said.

The coalition of representatives of the Congress of Racial Equality, the California chapter of the Political Congress of Black Women and other groups said Mandolph was facing overly harsh treatment for an accident that could have happened to anyone, and asked the public to donate money to Mandolph’s legal fund or toys for the children.

Mandolph said the fire broke out in her Mid-City apartment when she stepped outside for about five minutes to help a neighbor. She rescued her oldest child, 4-year-old Keithshon, she said, and firefighters saved her other two children, James, 3, and Jamie, 20 months.

The two younger children were are still hospitalized. Keithshon went home with one of Mandolph’s sisters earlier this week.

The district attorney’s office did not file charges against Mandolph, but the Department of Children’s Services has taken away her custody of the children while she is investigated, according to Mandolph and her attorney. Currently, Mandolph is only allowed to have monitored visits with her children, she said, and will have to appear in court in February to answer to allegations of child neglect and endangerment.

Officials of child protective services could not comment on the case because of confidentiality laws.

“I love my children, and I want custody of all my children,” Mandolph said. . . .