A severely disabled 19-year-old Algonquin woman will return to Illinois after she was abandoned by her mother in a Tennessee bar last month, officials said Thursday.
A Wednesday ruling by Judge John McAfee released Lynn Cameron to the state of Illinois, where she will be placed in a residential facility, Januari Smith Trader of the Illinois Department of Human Services told the Chicago Tribune.
McAfee, ruling in a Tennessee chancery court, issued an order that states the teen "is a disabled adult who was brought to Tennessee from the State of Illinois and abandoned by her mother in Campbell County, Tennessee. The State of Illinois wishes to retain jurisdiction of her and has obtained a suitable placement that will provide appropriate services upon her return," the Tribune reports.
Cameron was found by herself at a bar in Caryville on June 28 with limited vocabulary, police said. Caryville Assistant Police Chief Stephanie Smith told The Knoxville News Sentinel the teenager couldn't provide her name or address to police.
Smith said Cameron's mother, Eva Cameron, returned to Tennessee on Tuesday and told police that she left her daughter because "she couldn't handle her anymore."
Caryville Police told NBC affiliate WBIR Eva Cameron stayed about 10 minutes before leaving again, saying she wasn't interested in her daughter returning to Algonquin with her.
According to WBIR, the district attorney general said Eva Cameron will not be criminally charged because she did not break any state laws. Though the girl has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, she is over 18 years old, the attorney general told WBIR, and her mother is not her legal guardian.
