Jana Duggar: Why Did She Plead Guilty to Child Endangerment?

Back in September of 2021, Jana Duggar was cited on child endangerment charges.

While it certainly wasn’t the biggest Duggar scandal in recent years, the situation came as a shock to fans, many of whom expressed confusion about the charges.

Jana wound up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, and being fined $880 for her crime.

So what exactly happened, and why did Jana plead guilty instead of taking her chances at trial?

Well, that’s not completely clear, as certain details of the case were sealed in order to protect the identities of the minors who were involved.

What we do know is that a child who was in Jana’s care wandered ff and was reported missing.

The child — whose age and name remain unknown — was found by police several miles from home.

As with past family scandals, the Duggars’ silence only made the situation worse, as fans and media outlets jumped to wild conclusions about Jana’s alleged negligence.

Things got so bad that Jana finally addressed the situation in her Instagram Story, noting to followers that she has decided to explain herself only because “the media has been having a field day.”

Jana revealed that one of the children in her care had “wandered outside alone,” but she neither confirmed nor denied reports that she had fallen asleep while babysitting.

Jana admitted that she received a visit from “child welfare,” but claimed that the investigator “concluded that it was an accident.”

She insisted that despite reports to the contrary, she was “certainly never arrested.”

Jana admitted, however, that she was “upset” about the incident and deeply humiliated by her mistakes.

Obviously, Jana downplayed the incident quite a bit.

She admitted that one of the kids was found “wandering outside,” but omitted the important detail that the child was several miles from home.

Caretakers don’t get fined almost a thousand bucks because one of their charges stepped out in the backyard for some air.

But we guess you can’t fault her for running damage control.

After all, it’s been one scandal after another for the Duggars in recent years, and Jana probably wanted to minimize the inevitable criticism.

Whatever the case, she definitely messed up here, as evidenced by the fact that she pled guilty instead of trying to clear her name in court.

The citation probably won’t have much of an impact on Jana’s life, but it might prevent her from working in childcare in the future.

Fortunately, Duggar women aren’t allowed to work about to work outside the home anyway!