I know it must be difficult when your spouse gets deployed overseas and you end up having to take care of things yourself, things you may have always done with the support of your spouse: taking care of the kids, paying bills, dealing with being on your own. But, neglecting your children, no matter how tough things get, is not an option.
A mother, whose husband was deployed, is being charged with “three felony counts of injury to a child;” her child.
Frankly, this is a devastating situation in so many ways. A 22-month old dies of neglect. The autopsy report showed the toddler was only 17.5 pounds, dehydrated, malnourished and had chemical burns, which indicate “the child was exposed to human waste.” The mother is quoted as saying: “I just got tired of always changing the sheets, so it was there a little bit longer than it should have been.” She was talking about trying to deal with her daughter’s potty training and how she had left her lying in human waste.
She had two other daughters, one age six months and the other three years old, that were put into ICU for “severe neglect” as well. At the time the source article was written, the girls were in custody of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The family was stationed in Texas and it seems, lived at the Dyess Air Force Base.
The mother says with regard to her actions, “I made a horrible, horrible mistake that I’m going to pay for for the rest of my life.” I don’t know all the details of the situation, but I think this is a little more than a mistake. A mistake in this situation is something of a far lesser magnitude than not cleaning your child for days and leaving them lying in their own waste. Apparently, the reason for her neglect is that she was extremely depressed and couldn’t cope with taking care of their children by herself. She says that recently, she even tried committing suicide, “but a friend stopped her.”
Honestly, I feel for this woman, but I feel far worse for the child that died because of her neglect. Clearly the mother needed help and didn’t get it. In a situation like this, one always wants to point fingers, and it seems the mother is the one to point at. I have heard the military provides support for families that have a spouse deployed overseas so what was going on in this situation? I can’t imagine that she was never contacted by someone to see how she was doing, but maybe not.
What do you make of all this? Do you feel the mother is one hundred percent responsible or is there a greater problem going on here? Do you have any insights into this situation?
Categories: News
