Should the fathers be in the lives of the kids? Yes, they should and if they're not they are bums. That said, the person who is a fault in this situation is the mother who left the kids home alone. While the fathers are bums and pieces of trash, it was the mom who had the immediate possession of the child at that time. I will also have to say that the dude she was dating was no good because, he should have said something. But once again, he's not blood kin, you'd expect blood kin to know better.
That said, people shouldn't make this an example of ALL black mothers. The Tommy Sotomayor route is stupid.