Fla. Investigates Malnourished Boy, Mom

[dogday]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A 10-year-old boy who weighed just 35 pounds when he knocked on a neighbor's door pleading for food was being treated Monday for malnutrition, while his mother was held on child neglect charges, police said.

The Port St. Lucie boy, whose name was not released, knocked a neighbor's door Saturday night pleading for food. The woman gave the boy a peanut butter sandwich and juice, then called authorities.

"He was extremely dirty, filthy, hair was matted. He looked like he was undernourished and extremely thin, and he was begging her for food," Officer Robert Vega said.

The average weight for a 10-year-old boy is about 85 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-malnourished-child,0,3875206.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[porphyrian]

1. What the fuck is wrong with some people? - n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Something stinks about this story.

She had other kids who weren't malnourished? Odd, very odd. I wonder why she didn't do something, anything for this child. The article says she is pregnant, so at the very least, bring him to the OB.

:hi: dogday, how ya doin'?

[Turn CO Blue]

3. Agree. There must be more to the story

[Warpy]

11. Right, a lot just doesn't add up

If she had him for a month, she could have bathed him and cut those mats out of his hair. If he'd been unable to keep anything down, he'd have been dead of dehydration. Why was he able to keep a PB&J sandwich down? It's hardly light fare. Why didn't she drop a dime on Haitian daddy?

My guess is that the Haitian daddy is a fiction and this poor kid has been in her care all along.

[jkshaw]

4. Newsday article says ...

... he was dropped off in that condition by his father who was caring for him at his home in Haiti. Still ... even if she had only a day or two, she could have at least cleaned the child up a bit. She says he couldn't keep anything down. I wonder what she tried to feed him.

[TahitiNut]

6. "I wonder what she tried to feed him."

A Big Mac? Poor kid.

[Midlodemocrat]

7. That's the part that absolutely jumped out at me.

So she doesn't have insurance, can't get him to the doctor, he won't keep anything down. That part is very credible.

But, why, if she had all those other kids, didn't she clean him up a bit? I don't get it. It doesn't sound as though he was abused, just neglected, (not discounting the effects of neglet at all)

[TwilightGardener]

5. My understanding of cases like this is that one child is usually singled out

for the worst abuse/neglect, so it's not unusual for the other kids to be healthy/cared-for.

[spotbird]

8. Actually it's not uncommon for abusers

to vent their wrath mostly on one child in a home.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. I know that. It's just that usually abusers make SOME effort to hide it.

In this case, by cleaning the child up a bit. Also, with a 20 something in the house, and her pregnant, I don't know. It just smells off.

[dogday]

10. Hey, I was just thinking about you the other day

Hope life is treating you kindly.... Good to see ya :hug:

[KT2000]

12. This is not unusual

There is a book called A Child Named It by David Pelzer (two others in the series) which is an autobiography of a boy who was singled out in his family to receive abuse from his insane mother. I think there were two other children who were treated very differently.

It was never clear why only he was singled out but the things that were done to him were just awful. He persevered and has written the books and lectures now.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. I'm familiar with that series. His brother wrote a similar book about

his mistreatment by his mother.

[slowry]

14. Wow, thought this was gonna be another hitpiece on Vegans, lol.

My eyes picked out "Vega" (ie. "Officer Robert Vega"), first thing :P.