Yesterday there was an arrest of a woman who lives about 40 minutes from me for killing her one year old son. Please read the article here.
She admitted to detectives that she allowed her son to drown by leaving him alone in the bathtub and when she found him unconscious she refused to do CPR, even though she knew how to do it and also refused to call 911. She also told detectives that she "hated her baby".
I am absolutely disgusted. Up until November of 2011 I worked at a Child Protective Investigator in this great state of Florida and I have seen some crazy things. Mother's killing babies, killing their husbands, boyfriends killing babies, and even babies being shaken so hard but had the will to live in SURVIVED. I've also found drugs in homes...and even in the children's rooms. My cases have been on the new and I have worked death investigations. One of my cases sticks out the most which I won't provide details obviously, but was on the news and was one of the most disturbing cases I ever had. Thankfully the child was fine, but what she saw her mother do to her father was horrendous. I think the reason is was even more disturbing was the "matter of fact" nature during my interview with this person. Just like this woman. It shakes me to my core to see people kill someone and be so honest, "yeah, i hated this person", "i refused to help this person"...ESPECIALLY when it is your baby.
Apparently the mother was not on her Post Partum medication, but medication can only go so far, especially when we are responsible for taking that medication. It is a bigger problem. When someone we know, love, and especially LIVE WITH....we are responsible as well. Even more so when we are the other parent. I don't care how much you love your spouse, this woman should not have EVER been left alone with this baby. According to reports (which I understand are not always accurate) this has been going on since the baby was born 4 months premature. She had family and a husband...and this woman was LEFT ALONE with her baby that she admittedly HATED?
Are you joking?
I get so heated over these things. This was a preventable death. Even if the mother did not want to help herself, she could have been forced to leave, the father and child could have left, get an injunction (although may not have been granted), so many things could have happened to protect this child. Obviously I don't know these people or the circumstances and truth behind it all, but I saw this so many times in my cases. "I never thought he would do that...", "She's too nice to hurt anyone", womp womp womp. People can change for the worse, especially when mental issues come into play.
The mother told detectives that the morning she killed the baby that the baby was playing with the remote control and was crawling towards her so she slapped him twice to let him know to leave her alone, put him down for a nap, and when he woke up put him in the bath, then when he was dead dressed him and drove around with him. She admitted she knew he was dead because he was blue and not breathing. SERIOUSLY? Then she brings the baby home to her husband, wrapped in a blanket and tells her husband she killed the baby. How she even managed to leave the house after telling her husband that is beyond me, obviously as protective parents we feel we would have done something differently. She would not have been leaving my house to "go kill herself because she doesn't want to go to jail".
Luckily she was found at Tampa International Airport as she was attempting suicide but too bad for her there were "too many people around" to go through with it.
I think the only two positives about this story is that she was found and that she will be convicted (at least that's what I hope). It doesn't seem like she can get away with insanity even with a mental illness because she told the detectives she did everything on purpose, knew he was dead, slapped him...etc. She knew she was in reality and what she was doing and chose to not get him any help.
Also, just last week another child was killed by his mother's boyfriend. The boyfriend, who is a crack user, took the child that he claimed was a whiney child, for a walk. The mother thought this was odd but didn't stop it. When he returned with the baby the baby was blue and barely breathing. The boyfriend assured her that the baby was just "sleeping". This just makes me want to scream. I think the biggest lesson to be learned in this is not to date crack addicts maybe? Seems like a simple enough concept to me, but to others not so much.
What a great poster!
For more information about how to prevent abuse or what to do if you suspect abuse please read this article, it has some amazing points...things that most people who have never been investigators don't even think about.
I look forward to one day returning to my job as a Child Protective Investigator because I truly loved my job. The work is hard and you are very rarely thanked for the work you do, not to mention yelled at, cussed at, and told you are a baby stealer often but I did make a difference. After I left my job I actually recieved a card in the mail (that was sent to my office and they sent to my home) by a previous client...I helped her find her son after 8 years of him being taken away from her. It was so touching to get this card, finally I got a thank you and I still keep in contact with her.
We all need to get involved and look for the warning signs, child abuse prevention is up to all of us because sometimes the parents are unable to (whether on drugs, mental illnesses, domestic violence, family issues, etc). We can't just pay attention to our own children but all of the children, so that we can have a part in ensuring their safety.
~Magickal Graphics~
/end rant
:)
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