Two-year-old boy found wandering Philadelphia alone at night reveals tragic truth that his entire family are sleeping in a makeshift cardboard home
- The boy was found just before midnight and handed over to a police officer
- He'd been sleeping with parents Angelique Roland, 27, and Michael Jones, 24, and his four-year-old sister underneath the Fairmount Park Welcome Center
- Jones said the boy must have woken up after hearing the skateboarders and managed to open the box to chase after them
- The couple said they don't have money to pay rent and slept in the park that night because the shelters were full
- The boy and his sister were placed with Department of Human Services
- A homeless advocacy group has since launched a $12,000 campaign to help the family reunite and afford a place of their own
Support is flooding in for a homeless Philadelphia family whose two-year-old son was found wandering alone in a park in the middle of the night.
Angelique Roland, 27, and Michael Jones, 24, were sleeping with their children behind cardboard boxes underneath the Fairmount Park Welcome Center in Love Park when the toddler slipped away.
The boy was found just before midnight and handed over to a nearby Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority police officer, who took him to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Support is flooding in for the homeless Philadelphia parents of this two-year-old boy who was found wandering alone in Love Park just before midnight on Friday
The boys parents, Angelique Roland and Michael Jones, were sleeping with their children behind cardboard boxes underneath the Fairmount Park Welcome Center (pictured) when the toddler slipped away
Roland, 27, and Jones, 24, reported their son missing shortly after he was found. The couple said they don't have money to pay rent and had to sleep in the park that night because the shelters were full
He was wearing a green, long sleeve shirt, black running pants and had a diaper on, but did not have shoes or socks.
Roland and Jones reported their son missing to police shortly after he was found.
Jones said his son must have woken up after hearing skateboarders in the park and somehow managed to push the box open to chase after them, he told CBS Philadelphia.
The couple said they don't have money to pay rent and had to sleep in the park that night because the shelters were full.
'If I had somewhere to go, I would be there,' Roland told WPVI.
'I am not out here on the streets with my kids on purpose.'
Jones said his son woke up after hearing skateboarders in the park and somehow managed to push the box open to chase after them
Jones shows a reporter where the family slept Friday night to escape the wind
The boy and his four-year-old sister have been placed with the Department of Human Services in the meantime, but Jones said he is just happy that his kids are alive.
Roland and Jones have since received a number of job offers since their story first got out, and have been taken under the wing of homeless advocacy group Chosen 300 Ministries.
Director Brian Jenkins said the center is launching a $12,000 campaign to raise funds the family needs to get back into a place of their own 'for at least a year'.
Jenkins said the donated funds would go directly to a landlord for rent as well as social services costs.
Four thousand dollars have already been raised.
Police said charges will not be filed against the parents.
Roland and Jones have since received job offers and have been taken under the wing of homeless advocacy group Chosen 300 Ministries and its director Brian Jenkins (pictured hugging the couple)
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