A mother who abandoned her young son on a dark, narrow highway on a rainy February night pleaded guilty in court Monday.

Heather Adkins was emotional at times during the hearing. A kidnapping charge was dropped, but she admitted her responsibility in a child endangering charge.

“How do you plead as to that one charge,” the judge asked.

“Guilty,” Adkins answered.

Adkins dropped her 5-year-old, non-verbal son off on a dark, narrow road in Colerain Township on Feb. 17.

The boy was seen wandering through neighborhoods in a steady rain, trying to get help.

Strangers eventually found the boy walking near the intersection of Sheeds and Gains roads.

Despite all of that, Adkins mother stands by her.

Sharon Eads believes her daughter should not only be let out of jail but that she should get her children back.

“I believe she should have her children back because her children are her whole life. She loves her children very much,” Eads said.

Adkins defense said during the hearing that someone else, who has not been charged, was also in the vehicle. Adkins and her mother put blame on that person.

“I didn’t willingly, intentionally do anything, but I take accountability because allowing a certain person into my life led to this,” Adkins said. “It would not have happened had I not let that person around my child.”

Adkins faces 36 months in jail.

The sentencing was delayed until Sept. 28. The judge wants to review Adkins’ latest mental evaluation.

Recovery expert talks about powerful hold of drug addiction in situation involving boy left in Colerain

Tyler Schmidt explains impact illicit drugs can have on people teetering on the edge

Updated: 11:16 PM EST Feb 21, 2022

Heartbreaking but hardly surprising. That's how a local recovery expert feels about the situation involving a mother who is accused of leaving her child alone in Colerain Township. The police officer who arrested Heather Adkins, the mother of a child who was found alone in Colerain, said she had been treated for using a heroin and meth, a drug combination that one expert says can cause people to make decisions they later regret."My family, you know, is in a state of shock because it's not the Heather that we know, you know, that would do this to her child," said Sharon Eads, Heather Adkins' mother.Eads' comments make perfect sense to Tyler Schmidt."At the darkest points of my addiction I was, you know, just a completely different person," Schmidt said. "I couldn't discern the truth from the false."Schmidt, now in his ninth year of recovery, is executive director of a faith-based recovery organization called Living in Testimony.Based on his own experience and the stories he's heard from others battling addiction, Schmidt finds the situation involving Adkins and her 6-year-old son less shocking than many might think. Police said Adkins left her son alone on a road in Colerain Township Thursday night. Thankfully, a passing motorist saw the little boy and called for help. "This is heartbreaking, but it's not surprising," Schmidt said. "A lot of people are struggling within the confines of their house and just don't know where to turn."That's especially true when potentially life and death decisions are being made under a cloud of drug-induced confusion. Recognizing this reality, Schmidt and his team have used grant money from the state of Ohio to launch a Short Term Refuge program in Lower Price Hill."Almost like triage housing, where we can take someone off the street at midnight, bring them in, clothe them, wash their clothes, feed them, give them some temporary shelter and then we coordinate the treatment," Schmidt said.Since the program was ramped up in June, Schmidt said 220 men have been connected to treatment options within 24 hours.A similar program for women will launch next month at a Living in Testimony site in College Hill.In the meantime, Schmidt hopes Heather Adkins gets the help she needs — and not a public lashing."They don't need judgment or harsh criticism," he said. "They really need a helping hand."Sharon Eads told WLWT she thought her daughter stopped using illicit drugs five years ago. Eads said her daughter does suffer bouts of depression.