WARREN, Ohio - Police are trying to find out how a four-year-old child got from her parent’s home in Howland to a Warren playground nine miles away.

Officers were called Tuesday afternoon when a neighbor along Peace Avenue said the girl wearing only underwear had been playing in the area by herself.

Police knocked on doors, but no one knew where she lived, and the child couldn’t tell officers her name.

After the child was turned over to Children’s Services, Howland Police got a call from 41-year-old Daniel Perl and 27-year-old Celine Perl, who said they were looking for their little girl, who turned out to be the child found in Warren Heights.

When the parents said the child had only been missing for a short time, Police told them that she had been in the playground for an hour and officers spent another hour trying to locate her parents.

Trumbull County Children's Services Executive Director, Tim Schaffner tells 21 News that kids under 10 years old being unsupervised is always a problem and always a danger.

"In any situation where a child that young wanders away for that period of time and that far away, there are things to be investigated," Schaffner said.

Trumbull County Children's Services is currently overseeing the child's safety and care.

"In these kinds of situations, we place with a relative if there is one available, and there is. And [we] create a safety plan to limit the parent's involvement during the investigation," Schaffner continued.  

Asked how they thought the child ended up nine miles from their Dawson Drive home, the parents said someone must have picked her up on the street and taken her to the playground.

The parents pleaded not guilty to child endangering in Warren Municipal Court on Wednesday.  Another court hearing is set for August.