State child welfare workers today were investigating a young mother after her 2 -year-old daughter in her diaper was found walking in the middle of a Westside street on Thursday night.

It was at least the fifth time police had been called to check on the woman’s children.

Five neighbors on the 1300 block of Philips Drive called police at 11:30 p.m. Thursday to complain that it was the second time that Kristie Hughes had let her toddler escape the house unnoticed, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

Hughes told police the girl unlocked the front screen door and walked through it. Her 5-year-old daughter spotted her sister and pulled her in from the street.

Police allowed Hughes to take her two daughters home and called Child Protective Services. Hughes is facing no criminal charges.

On Sept. 2, police were called to the Hughes home when a neighbor saw the 2-year-old playing unattended in the backyard, according to a police report. Hughes told police she was on the phone and the child got out without her noticing.

The child was sent to the Youth Emergency Services office, but later returned home.

During a visit to the house on Aug. 8 on a complaint that was determined by police to be unfounded, an IMPD officer noted a report that “everyone at the location appeared to be in good health.”br />
Other reports were made to police in June 2007 and May 2005.