BURLINGTON — A mentally and physically handicapped child found wandering barefooted along County Road 120 outside of Burlington Tuesday will be the focus of a hearing today in Lawrence County Juvenile Court.

According to Ohio Highway Patrol Trooper Drew Frye,

Trent Turner, 11, apparently wandered away from his home off County Road 58 in the Sunrise area early Tuesday morning.

“We received a call from the Ohio Highway Patrol they had found this child and asked for our assistance,” Terry Porter, of Children’s Services, explained. Porter and two investigators from his office joined two state troopers and began looking for the child’s family.

“This was serious. He couldn’t tell us his name, anything,” Porter said. The child’s photo and basic information were given to the news media and within minutes, Porter said he received phone calls from Trent’s teacher and a family member.

While the father of the child was at work at the time of the incident, the mother was home but, authorities said, initially thought the child was still in bed asleep. Porter declined to give the names of the parents.

“He had walked three miles barefooted,” Porter said. “He was gone three-and-a-half hours.”

The boy was taken by Lawrence County Emergency Medical Services to a local hospital to be examined, Porter said. He was then placed in the custody of Children’s Services and released to a grandmother until the hearing today.

“This is a situation that was bad, could have been much worse and turned out okay,” Porter said.