"Ill, not neglected"
When will the insanity stop? Why was this mother criminalized for having two ill children?
Mum's agony as anorexic daughters are taken into care
The 47-year-old mum, a nursery nurse employed by the same council, said: "I asked for some home support but instead of getting the help I needed, my daughters were snatched from me. Anorexia is an illness not a welfare issue."
{snip}
"I took [my oldest daughter] to the doctor straight away. But I'd to fight to get her seen by a specialist. While my youngest daughter was still in hospital, my other daughter was cutting her food down to virtually nothing other than a small handful of cereal."
When her youngest daughter was re-admitted to the hospital, social workers required that the mother turn over care of her two children to the state.
It is the health system that is neglecting this family, not the mother neglecting her children. I can't even imagine how much damage has been done. This is just so, so sad.
4 comments:
Ugh. What a horrible story. And what an irresponsible way to handle this! Like you said, it's the system that is letting these girls down, not their mother!
Isn't it ironic that the older sister has become more ill since being pulled from her mom (not surprising, in my opinion!), yet no one is putting the finger of neglect at the system that pulled her from her home?
Wow, I can't believe that people would be so ignorant about eating disorders. Speaking from personal experience, my parents had nothing to do with my ED (but I was in college so I wasn't actually living with them). The poor girls, I can't imagine how they must feel being taken away from their mom! I'm just in shock that something like this could happen!
As you've said, a shocking and terribly sad story and an indictment upon the system that is supposed to provide "care" for these vulnerable children. Much though some of what he said was very useful, I wasn't particularly pleased with the comments of Dr Freeman criticising GPs (the girls' GP may well be useless, but since there's been no reporting at all about his or her involvement in the case I think it is incorrect to comment)and the private sector, instead of admitting that despite some recent improvements, specialist care for eating disorders is woefully inadequate and many GPs are as frustrated (if not as personally terrified) as patients and parents by this.
Anon,
Exactly- it is the healthcare system that should be indicted, not the poor mother.
Thanks for your comments, everyone!
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