BAKER, J.
Today we address a scenario that happens every day in every city of America, namely, a child’s whereabouts is unknown by an inattentive parent. Here, a father was watching television when the mother told him that she was leaving to run errands and that he needed to watch their two-year-old daughter. The father was under the mistaken belief that the daughter was upstairs with his aunt, and she managed to get outside through a back door that had been left open. The father realized that his daughter had gone outside and located her within twenty minutes but not before a neighbor found the child and called the police. Almost eight months after the incident, the father was charged, and eventually convicted of class D felony child neglect. While the father was negligent, the child neglect statute requires intent beyond negligence. Consequently, we reverse his conviction.
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. . . [W]e cannot conclude that the State presented sufficient evidence establishing that Villagrana was subjectively aware of a high probability that N.V. had been placed in a dangerous situation. More particularly, the evidence shows the entire incident occurred within approximately twenty minutes, during which Villagrana either thought that N.V. was with his aunt or was searching for her.
That being said, we do not intend for our conclusion to be interpreted as approval for Villagrana’s inattention to his daughter. To be sure, Villagrana’s conduct was negligent. Nevertheless, negligence does not satisfy the requisite mens rea under the child neglect statute, which requires that the defendant engage in the prohibited conduct intentionally or knowingly. Put another way, Indiana does not criminally penalize those who negligently neglect a dependent. Here, the State presented insufficient evidence to show that Villagrana acted “knowingly” and, therefore, presented insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction for class D felony neglect of a dependent, and we reverse the decision of the trial court.
KIRSCH, J., and BROWN, J., concur.