[Vedderman]

This 24 year old teacher strangled her 5 year old son to death and then hung herself.

Family members reported that she was suffering from mental problems and had gone off of her meds. They were worried about her and the boy's welfare because she had recently taken him out of the state and disappeared for several weeks without a word. Nonetheless, they could not prove any imminent danger, so they felt there was little they could do. She had never spoken of hurting herself or the boy directly and he was in good health and looked-after. Until this week.

Alas, mental illness is a terrible affliction.

[Sharon]

My God that's so tragic

[Rednose]

Even the best doc can't tell if/when kids are in danger in cases like this, sadly

[Karma]

Originally Posted by Vedderman ↗

Family members reported that she was suffering from mental problems and had gone off of her meds. They were worried about her and the boy's welfare because she had recently taken him out of the state and disappeared for several weeks without a word. Nonetheless, they could not prove any imminent danger, so they felt there was little they could do. She had never spoken of hurting herself or the boy directly and he was in good health and looked-after. Until this week.

Alas, mental illness is a terrible affliction.

Family members reported their concerns. What more 'proof' should you have than a person with mental health issues is off their meds and has disappeared without a trace taking a small child, that something could be seriously wrong. Better to take the child until the person is 'on their meds' again, than to risk something like this happening. If I was a member of that family I'd be well and truly pissed off now.

[wickedlara]

It seems that if a kid is killed by a parent is most often the mom

[K53]

No Mother of the Year here

[djrizzz]

poor baby,,,

[Vedderman]

Originally Posted by Karma ↗

Family members reported their concerns. What more 'proof' should you have than a person with mental health issues is off their meds and has disappeared without a trace taking a small child, that something could be seriously wrong. Better to take the child until the person is 'on their meds' again, than to risk something like this happening. If I was a member of that family I'd be well and truly pissed off now.

Well, when I said 'reported', I meant that they told reporters after the crime that they had worries. I didn't get the impression that they were contacting social services before the fact. Portuguese is a little tricky for me, so I may have misunderstood. But I think they were just mentioning that, in hindsight, they wish they'd done more.

But wrangling a child away from a crazy mother isn't exactly easy or pleasant, especially without legal backing. And some families, I suspect, just won't do it period.

[Oswald2001]

All experiences 'real' or imagined are in the mind.

With mental illness, the experience is as 'real' as any other 'real' life experience you can have.

It can certainly lead to fatalities as in this case.

It happens every single day.

[Kelseecat65]

Poor little guy.