#Jana Duggar Finally Explains Her Child Endangerment Charges — And Sister Jessa Defends Her!

Jana Duggar is finally speaking publicly about the ongoing investigation into her actions for allegedly endangering the welfare of a child.

As we’ve been reporting, the 31-year-old younger sister of convicted child pornography possessor Josh Duggar was herself cited with a misdemeanor in a newly-discovered early September incident in Northwest Arkansas. In her instance, Jana (pictured above, right) had been charged with endangering the welfare of a child, but police reports from the time of the incident lack detail on the specifics of the case.

So… WTF happened?!

Related: Joy-Anna Duggar And Her Husband Release Statement On Josh’s Guilty Verdict

The Duggars have remained relatively tight-lipped about Jana’s ordeal, preferring to this point to appear content to wait for her upcoming court date in early January. On Monday, cousin Amy Duggar King broke the silence, cryptically referencing Jana’s charges in a social media post.

But on Tuesday morning, Jana herself finally took action to discuss her situation in a public forum. Writing in a post published to her Instagram Stories, Jana explained:

“I’m only sharing this because the media has been having a field day with it all. I prefer a more private life, but I know my last name means that everything we do is open to public criticism and interest, especially during this time.”

Soooo if you “prefer a more private life” why be active on social media?! And have a YouTube channel? Easy to blame “the media” for it, though, right? Anyways, back to the child endangerment…

Jana went into her own telling of the “raw facts” of the situation, revealing the charges stem from an afternoon she’d been babysitting (she is one of the few Duggars with no kids of her own yet) when one of the children she was watching managed to wander outside when she had her back turned:

“The raw facts: I was babysitting a few months ago when one of the children wandered outside alone. A passerby who saw the child called the police. This resulted in a written citation, as well as a follow-up with child welfare who concluded that it was an accident and the child was unharmed. They recognized that it was a case of a child slipping out of the house when you turn your back for a moment.”

She admitted the whole situation was upsetting for her, too:

“It all happened so quickly and was scary. I am grateful for law enforcement and those who protect and serve our community. I was certainly never arrested like some may have implied. In the end I was just upset at myself that it had happened at all, but so thankful it all ended safely and that’s truly what mattered the most to me.”

OK then. She’s certainly making it sound like it was nothing… but the police clearly thought it was serious enough that she needed to be charged. Hmm.

Here’s the full post (below):

FWIW, it’s not immediately certain whose child slipped out of the house behind her back.

Jana is not married and has no children of her own but often helps care for nieces and nephews in her big family — with children ranging in age from infants on up. That show wasn’t called …And Counting for nothing.

Related: Jana Opens Up About Still Being Single Even As Her Sisters Are All Getting Hitched

At least one momma of Jana’s nieces and nephews is already coming to her defense in public, though.

Jessa Duggar Seewald (pictured alongside Jana, above left) also posted on IG Stories after the reveal of the child endangerment allegations.

Late Monday night, the 29-year-old wrote her on IG Stories post about Jana’s situation, saying:

“Getting messages about headlines about Jana. Bottom line — it was an innocent mistake. She was babysitting and one of the kids slipped out the door unnoticed, but it ended safely. Could’ve happened to anyone.”

Exactly! All babysitters have criminal records for child endangerment, it just comes with the territory, right? Or maybe, just maybe… this is a more serious matter than y’all are making it out to be??

Jessa went in for a dig at the media, too, writing:

“The media is sensationalizing this because of other current family circumstances, and it makes me so mad. She’s without question, one of the most amazing women I know, and I’d trust her with my kids any day of the week. Do me a favor — give the girl a break, and all you perfect humans go back to living your lives.”

Did everyone sensationalize it? Or just report it and it sounds way worse because of the mystery of it paired with the context of having a brother who just got convicted of child porn?

Here is Jessa’s full post:

And so they have spoken.

Obviously, following Josh’s conviction on those awful charges of receiving and possessing child pornography, the media spotlight on the Duggars is pretty intense.

But don’t blame us for making you all household names. That’s the work of one Jim Bob Duggar, who put you all on TV for his own profit, in the name of making himself look like the world’s greatest dad. And he’s still using his fame from the show to try to seize political power in Arkansas on a platform of family values. So yeah, all the criminal charges your fam gets hit with are going to make headlines for years to come. Sorry ’bout it.

[Image via Jana Duggar/Instagram]