Mother loses kids over American Idol
By castratton
@castratton (139)
United States
March 5, 2008 9:48am CST
Ok so I'm in the Baltimore area and last night on the news they tell a story about a woman who left her child unattended in the bathtub to grab her change of clothes and then while out of the bathroom got distracted watching American Idol. As you can imagine if it made the news the almost worst happened and the girl almost drowned and was in critical condition. They had not arrested the woman yet but they had taken away her other four children and put them in protective custody. Did anyone else hear about this? What do you think of it? I've never left my kids in the tub unattended. I always bring all their stuff in the bathroom with me. However do you think this one incident, if not indicative of her parenting skills, should keep her seperated from her kids? I think its definitely something that should be investigated because what if this wasn't one sad accident but what if it was a one time freak thing should she get her kids back? What if her child that almost drowned dies what should happen to her?
1 person likes this
10 responses
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
5 Mar 08
Wow, I think something like that is a tough call. I have 3 kids and I know how distracted I can get and forgetful. I usually bring the clothes in with me when I bath them, but sometimes I forget. Although rather than leave them alone, I would just wait until they were done and then go get the clothes. I think if it was just a lapse in judgement that she should get her kids back. I'm sure the guilt she feels is going to be punishment enough. But now, if she has done other things like this to put her children in danger then she shouldn't get them back.
@eden32 (3973)
• United States
5 Mar 08
I hadn't read that story, how old was the child?
As awful as it is, I would assume it was an isolated incident & not a reason to have her children put in foster care. Our foster care system in the US is a mess, I was reading a study of children in foster care in my state that showed a high percentage of children in care face worse abuse from their foster provider than the original reported "abuse" from their family member- which is not to say all foster parents are abusive, most aren't of course. But many cases are found to be unfounded after the child has already been placed in care. CPS/DSS (whatever it's called in the state this happened in) should ask the mother to attend parenting classes, but it doesn't seem like a reason to take the children from the home.
@castratton (139)
• United States
5 Mar 08
The little girl that almost drowned was three but the Mom also left her 1 yr old in the tub with her. And the article said there was 9 inches of water in the tub.
1 person likes this
@shalom123 (51)
• India
6 Mar 08
Really shocking. Such people are shame on motherhood. Anyway parenting has to come naturally and not taught by any teachers..Thank God, the kid is back.
@mykaylala (214)
• United States
6 Mar 08
I believe that if it was me I would have never ran anywhere while my baby or child was in the tub, Most parents are aware that it only takes 1 second for the child to turn the hot water on and get seriously burned or worse to try to get out and slip and get seriously injured. Honestly though I think it was a bit extreme to take away her 4 children for the fact that accidents do happen and I do think it was a stupid mindless "accident" but who knows, ,maybe she will learn from this mistake and never let it happen again. It doesn't mean she is a unfit or bad mom, there is way worse things going on that no one even knows about these days!
@the_dutchess (2610)
• Philippines
5 Mar 08
That's a horrible news. There's nothing more important for a parent to be sure that her/his children is safe. I am not a parent yet, but I don't think that leaving your kid behind over a show is right, that's not reasonable at all. I pity the kid... but I also pity the woman for losing her child but yet, she's to blame for it. This should be a lesson to all parents out there.
@bethyboo (399)
• United States
5 Mar 08
This is a really sad story. At least the child didn't die. Most of the time you don't realize that something like that could happen to you and your children. You think "oh they will be fine for just a few minutes."
I always bring everything I need in with me when bathing my son. I have a checklist so I don't forget anything. I don't want to have to leave my son alone in the bath.
As far as the children getting taken away from their mother, the investigators must have had other reasons to believe the children needed to be taken away. They are just playing it safe and I don't blame them. If they find that nothing is wrong and it was just an accident, then I'm sure the children will go back to their mother. Better safe than sorry.
@idaantipolo (472)
• Philippines
5 Mar 08
What a terrible thing to happen! I do not have a child yet, but I've taken cared of my nieces and nephews and I know how difficult it could be to take care of the children's needs, as well as the fact that there are other chores to be taken cared of, but to leave the child in the bath tub is a very serious and dangerous thing to do. One point that I would like to share is, you shouldn't leave a child in a tub with water higher than 3 inches, to prevent accidental drowning, just like what was in the news.
