Mifflinburg welfare check leads to child endangerment charges, children removed

A crying 3-month-old infant was found beside an unconscious adult inside a Mifflinburg apartment on May 2, and police said a 4-year-old child was there too, unsupervised. Officers reported that drug paraphernalia, a large knife, moldy food and bugs were all within reach of the children.

Police identified the adult as 34-year-old Bradley Beardsley and said he had passed out inside the apartment. WKOK reported that Beardsley was charged with child endangerment and related offenses after the welfare check turned into a child-safety response. Children and Youth took custody of the children after officers made the scene safe.

The case shows how quickly a routine welfare check can become a removal when officers find a child in immediate danger. In this apartment, the warning signs were not subtle: an unconscious adult, a crying infant, another young child left without supervision, and hazardous conditions that police said put both children at risk.

For Union County residents, the case also points to the practical role of local intervention. Mifflinburg Borough’s public-safety page lists the Mifflinburg Police Department office at 570-966-1027 and Union County Dispatch at 570-523-1113 for non-emergencies. Concerns that can justify a welfare check include a child left alone, an adult who appears incapacitated, or a home environment with obvious hazards within a child’s reach.

Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System provides public access to docket sheets through its online portal, although recent filings may not appear immediately. That means court records may add detail as the case moves forward, including how prosecutors frame the child-endangerment allegations and whether additional charges are filed.

The Mifflinburg case follows another recent Union County child-endangerment prosecution in White Deer Township, where investigators said children were living in deplorable conditions. Taken together, the cases show that local authorities are treating severely unsafe living conditions as urgent child-welfare matters, not as isolated household problems.