By goldeneagle
United States
@goldeneagle (6841)
February 7, 2012 8:45am CST
I am watching an episode of Dr. Phil about the little girl, named Lauren, who was locked a closet and held prisoner by her mom and step-dad from age 2 until age 8 before she was rescued. She was raped and beaten repeatedly, and had to have reconstructive surgery. She has scars from being burned with cigarettes and cut. She was forced to sleep in the closet where she was found, and was starved. She wasn’t even let out to go to the bathroom. She had to do that in the closet on the floor as well. The closet, as well as her hair, was also infested with lice. She was left in the closet naked with only a pillow, and sometimes a blanket. Her parents kept a radio and television turned on in the bedroom where the closet was to keep anyone from hearing the Lauren from crying for help. When she was rescued, she was 8 years old, was only 3-foot tall, and only weighed 25 pounds.
There are three issues here that really piss me off. First and foremost is the fact that someone would do this to their kid. Second is the fact that the people who did this have not been executed. Third is the fact that this little girl lived with an adoptive parent until she was two years old, then was given back to her real mom even though there was evidence that she was being abused by her mom during unsupervised visitations. This is a classic example a screwed up and failing judicial system, and a classic example of a case where a baby should have NEVER been given back to her real mom.
Luckily, the girl was given back to the adoptive parent after being rescued, and has made great progress in recovery. She is now 18 years old, and she is trying to get on with her life. She still has some issues that she has to deal with from day-to-day, and she will likely have to deal with some of these issues for the rest of her life. Her mom and step-dad are serving life sentences in prison, and I hope they never get out. I doubt they ever will, but Lauren said on the show that she wishes they would be executed. This is one situation where the judge should listen to the victim, and order their wishes to be fulfilled.
This is truly a sad situation all the way around. How could someone do this to their children? How could our judicial system be this screwed up, and how many other children have been given back to abusive parents? How many kids should be taken away from their parents, but are allowed to remain in abusive homes because the judges and other officials involved don’t have the guts to do the right thing? How many kids are kept in abusive homes by a system in which the rules need to be changed? Why is the death penalty not used in cases as extreme as this? It should be, because even in prison, these two people have lives that are 100 % better than what that little girl lived through for SIX YEARS. I hope there is an especially brutal place in HELL for people who abuse children.
Lauren has been living with her adoptive mom since being rescued. She has been in therapy, and thankfully, aside from some issues that will likely always be there, she has managed to develop a normal life, although I am not sure how much of a normal life someone who has been through what Lauren has been through can have. What are your thoughts on this situation?