Community and police effort reunites Elkhart family

ELKHART, Ind. - An Elkhart toddler was reunited with her mother Tuesday thanks to police and community members.

Officials say social media played a big role in the happy ending.

When best friends Delia Vazquez and Julia Gonzalez saw the original Facebook post by Elkhart Police, they went to work.

“I shared the page and I translated in Spanish, then after that I tagged a lot of people,” Vazquez said.

The post showed a two-year-old girl found around 5:45 Tuesday morning.

Elkhart Police were asking the community if anyone knew her name or her parents.

“In less than five minutes, we knew the name of the father, the mother, and we know everything,” Vazquez said.

It only took a few hours to find answers and reunite the toddler with her mom, after numerous friends contacted Vazquez to tell her who the child was.

“I called the police and I gave all the information,” Vazquez said.

It was a quick and safe ending to a scary situation.

The girl was originally found by a passerby on busy Toledo Road.

Police say the child’s mother works overnight, and was asleep when the little one wandered out of their home.

“Anybody who is a parent at some point has probably had their child wander away,” Elkhart Police Sgt. Chris Snyder said.

So far, police and DCS think there was no foul pay.

They’re investigating just in case, and making sure the family has the resources to keep it from happening again.

In the meantime, both police and civilians are celebrating what working together can do.

“We rely a lot on our citizens and obviously that works,” Snyder said.

Gonzalez says the citizens rely on police as well, and one another.

“If we’re all together we can make a better and good community,” Gonzalez said.

There were no signs of injury or abuse on the young girl.