Child Tests Positive for Marijuana After Day With Hawk Point Babysitter
HAWK POINT, Mo. — The child ran to her parent when it was time to leave the babysitter’s home, but almost immediately laid her head down and appeared unusually tired.
She slept during the ride home alongside another child. Once inside, the other child quickly returned to normal. She did not. She looked sick, showed little interest in her favorite foods and was not responding as she normally would.
A hospital visit later that evening provided an unexpected explanation: THC had been detected in the child’s system. The discovery began a Hawk Point police investigation that has now resulted in a child endangerment charge against the babysitter.
Tiaura Faith Wilkes, Hawk Point, Missouri.
Charges
Endangering the welfare of a child in the second degree, a Class A misdemeanor
The child had spent Jan. 15, 2025, with Wilkes. At pickup, Wilkes told the parent that the child had eaten macaroni and cheese shortly before leaving. Nothing at the time indicated why the child was acting differently.
After arriving home, the child remained lethargic and showed little reaction even when offered foods she normally enjoyed. The parent contacted a relative with pediatric medical experience and was advised to seek immediate care.
Testing at Progress West Hospital found THC in the child’s urine. She was transferred to St. Louis Children’s Hospital, monitored overnight and released the following afternoon.
Police later interviewed Wilkes with workers from the Missouri Children’s Division present. Wilkes acknowledged watching the child that day and said a friend had visited her home to smoke “dabs,” a concentrated marijuana wax containing THC.
She also described cleaning a dirty smoking device by placing it in a pot of hot water.
Exactly how the THC entered the child’s system remains unclear. Investigators did not publicly identify whether the child encountered the smoking device, the water used to clean it or another possible source.
Wilkes indicated during the interview that she understood the situation could carry consequences.
More than a year and a half after the hospital visit, the case was filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court on Aug. 28, 2026. Wilkes was issued a summons and was not taken into custody on the current charge.
The case is filed under Lincoln County case number 26L6-CR00586.
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Sources:
Hawk Point Police Department investigation and probable cause statement
Missouri Case.net records for case 26L6-CR00586
Criminal summons issued by Lincoln County Circuit Court
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