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Just when I thought I’d heard all the horrendous and hideous stories about the abuses that can be inflicted upon children, this story broke in Atlanta on Friday:
Henry school official charged with child abuse.
This is an article about a grandmother, who is a special education coordinator in a school system in the Atlanta metro area. My understanding of Special Education Coordinators in this state is that they are usually upper-level degreed educators with specialization in special education administration working right below the Special Education Director in larger school.
This grandmother visited the trailer of her daughter and son-in-law (who both were apparently doing drugs) on November 20, and finding the couple passed out, she retrieved the 13-month-old twins from another room and called a relative to come get the babies. What she didn’t do, that this mandatory reporter should have done, is call the authorities and seek medical attention for these babies, who way only 8 and 9 pounds respectively.
Yep…you read it right…8 and 9 pounds at 13 months.
The police chief in the county where the family resides says that this is the worst case of child neglect he has ever seen. If you need a graphic image of how emaciated these poor babies are, there is a photo of one of the baby’s legs in this article.
So, the relative who retrieved the babies did take to babies to the hospital. Now grandma is charged along with her children for not seeking medical attention and reporting this suspected child abuse and neglect.
And where, you might ask, was grandma when the police came to arrest her? She was teaching an early childhood development class to high schoolers in her school system. No, I am not making this up!
Not to defend this woman in any way – but wouldn’t it be the hardest thing in the world to have your own child turn out this way? To be a druggie who almost neglects her twins to death?? I think every baby is a gift from God and multiples is being doubly (or more) blessed. I can’t fathom prizing drugs over my children so it’s hard for me to comprehend this type of abuse. Being the grandmother of these babies carries it’s own brand of responsibility and this woman fell way short of that. Being on the school board and teaching the child development class are just incredible!!
Oh yeah, and we are supposed to trust our kids welfare to people like this?
I have lived this and know how it could happen. The difference is, I was involved from the start and when I saw neglect beginning, I moved in and took my grandson. Where has she been for six months? Why didn’t she take those children from the start? I too worked in a public school fulltime and I went from babysitting every Saturday, to every Fri-Sat-Sun, to every weekend, and every holiday and all summer. When the parents still did not get help, I went to court and got custody. That was my duty to my grandson (removing him from a neglectful environment) AND my duty to my daughter (to keep her from making a drug-induced mistake that could never be corrected). Thank God one relative in that family had some sense.
Unbelievable. I guess you gotta ask — where has this caring grandmother been for the past 13 months? Of course, the druggy parents could have limited or cut off all contact to their babies, making it difficult to know what was up.
And if a highly trained special education official is loathe to turn her twin grandchildren over to the mercies of the state — is that not also a commentary on the state of the child welfare system? I pray that if I ever came upon my child or a relative or friend who needed (or whose children needed) that level of intervention, that I would have the strength to do the right thing.
Rachel