Children neglected

Update on the canberra times here – http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/rotting-ruins-of-a-family-in-free-fall/798869.aspx – there is also a link to a slideshow of pictures. Sunrise covered this quickly in the morning as well.

I think Katy Gallaghers portfolio is coming under a bit of scrutiny here. Can’t be happy about that in an election year. Mind you I haven’t seen any of the other potential candidates/parties jumping all over this one yet. poor drills.

V8-Prius said :

I’m sure Angelina Jolie would be happy to add the litle kiddies as fashion accessories to her contrived little Hollywood orphanage.

So long as she could have her name displayed in 6ft high neon letters outside the house in Ainslie – just so everyone could see how wonderful she is.

I’m sure Angelina Jolie would be happy to add the litle kiddies as fashion accessories to her contrived little Hollywood orphanage.

jessieduck said :

who can’t get an abortion for health reasons?

Men…

Absent Diane said :

“Why shouldn’t they get at least a bit of help from the government?”

I didn’t say they shouldn’t i don’t think they should get a baby bonus though.

The other thing that shits me is that people get 5K for essentially having shag… just about anyone can do that. just because you have the ability to procreate and do, doesn’t make you special. it makes you normal.

wait a sec, my wife and i went through IVF. we couldn’t “just have a shag”. The 5k baby bonus was gone long before the idea to spend it on electrical goods, for child 1, we kitted out the nursery with our own money. the bonus went to the medical bills, hospital fees and subsequent nappies / formula purchases. with children 2&3 (twins) it went to the medical bills, hospital fees and subsequent nappies / formula purchases. no new tv’s etc, we just save for items like that, the old fashioned way.

“Why shouldn’t they get at least a bit of help from the government?”

I didn’t say they shouldn’t i don’t think they should get a baby bonus though.

The other thing that shits me is that people get 5K for essentially having shag… just about anyone can do that. just because you have the ability to procreate and do, doesn’t make you special. it makes you normal.

And, sorry to double-post, but ‘how to contribute to a conversation and how to not make comments when you have f-k-all to say 101’ is down the hall, Woody.

Yeah, I’m no medical expert. Since when was the Riot-Act a place for experts?

I’m against child neglect too. That’s why I suggested some control over what the baby bonus can be spent on should be executed (and that’s for all parents).

DMD I think we’re on the same-ish wave length anyways- It was just the medical side of things needed correction.

I would hate to live in a society that forces abortions or adoptions. I am all for young people having a go at raising a family as well. What I am against is child neglect

Oh and jessieduck, adoptions can be very difficult things too. Abusive foster families, the emotional strain for both the biological parents and the biological children.

The decision of whether to keep, abort or put a baby up for adoption is one of the most difficult someone can make. The state shouldn’t be making it for you.

I’m sorry. I seem to have stumbled into Bad Public Policy 101, with the Hon. Rev. Fred Nile and Pauline Hanson lecturing. I’ll let you get on with your ill-considered knee-jerking.

neanderthalsis said :

It is rather unfortunate that the only way for some members of our community to earn a living is to act a professional baby makers. When you add up the benefits of having children whilst remaining single, the earning power is so much better than you could ever earn on Newstar.

Parenting Payment Single is $546 plus a health care card, pharmaceutical allowance, educational allowances, etc…
Rent assistance $125 – 150 depending on the number of kids and cost of rent
Family Tax Benefits Part A $145 per child under 13
Family Tax Benefits Part B $125 is your youngest is under 5

So compare the $1000 or so per fortnight for a single mum with one kid against the $500 or so for the dole/newstart plus rent assistance and popping out kidlets seems to be a nice little earner even before you take into account the baby bonus.

for a single mum, having a kid pays better than working in retail, but the hours really suck…

we have 3 kids, and get the family allowance to supplement my income. If my wife was on the dole, she would be receiving more money. I don’t get a lot of money, the welfare cheque is not that big, either. we are no different than others I know, but maybe if the govt made the tax cuts larger, we wouldn’t have to cut back on some forms of stuff like a new business suit for me (first in 4 years) etc.

I think I might have been wrong – all I can find bar infections is that it’s got to do with what stage the pregnancy is in as well. Good work, Jessieduck, you caught me out.

I still don’t see why we should be forcing women into abortions though. As I’ve just displayed, I’m not much of an expert on the topic. I’m pro-choice as far as I can gather, but I still think the choice bit means a right to choose.

I do know abortions can lead to severe depression with women and so can adoptions. If a young mother feels she can bring up her child by herself, or alternatively with a young father who is just starting out in the workforce and doesn’t make much money (I know a couple of people in this case), then why shouldn’t they at least get something that’s awarded to other new parents anyway?

but anyways- you could always adopt out a child that you thought you would not be able to raise.

But I am going to look it up.

I don’t actually know..but I think if you have certain medical conditions you can’t. I’ve heard of people not being able to before.

who can’t get an abortion for health reasons?

But what are you teaching the kids? Don’t be born out of an accidental pregnancy? There are people who can’t get abortions for health reasons.

There’s also a lot of single mothers that do learn responsibility with motherhood and struggle hard to give their children a decent upbringing. Why shouldn’t they get at least a bit of help from the government?

well a good chance for them to learn a bit of responsibility or state funded abortions.

But what about those who are economically disadvantaged, have a child accidentally and are struggling to raise them? (Teen single mothers come to mind).

how about this. give them nothing but only allow them to breed until they have a certain amount of money over a certain period of time. and then maybe give them baby bonus.

Maelinar…perhaps a better idea would be to control what the baby bonus can be spent on. Maybe it could even be a series of vouchers that can only be spent on certain items (clothing, food, bedding and most of the other stuff the baby bonus is for).

FC – respect.

I think the issue is far more complex than that v8. There are plenty of people, indigenious and not, that have had their children removed in the ACT through child protection.
The removal of children from a parent is not a decision taken lightly. It is a last resort.
And yes, this ladies house was a mess from the outside, however, I imagine that the issues going on inside the house were not known. And how can you tell the difference between a parent who is a disgusting slob (not enough to remove chidlren) or a parent who is neglectful.

This issue is a disgrace, I am not debating that, but I just think the issue is a lot bigger than the womans heritage.
This is a way of life that continues to repeat itself. Parent to child. Child becomes parents, the cycle continues.

Drugs, alcohol abuse, mental health, obesity, voilence, welfare as primary income, Tax fayer funded housing.
These are just some of the issues at play.
I am torn.
Part of me wants to say, “remove them all from the gene pool” or ‘mass culling of degenerates needed”
However, I feel that is just my reaction because it is easier to the alternative… an unknown solution.
These people are behaving this way because they do not know how to exist in a more functional way. If they did know better, they would behave differently.
Does anyone think that these people are happy.
I highly doubt it.
Their quality of life appears to be quite crap.
When did they change from being negleted/abused/fostered children, to becoming the parents of alike children. I doesn’t remove the blame, but does humanise them a bit I think.
Very sad.

It is rather unfortunate that the only way for some members of our community to earn a living is to act a professional baby makers. When you add up the benefits of having children whilst remaining single, the earning power is so much better than you could ever earn on Newstar.

Parenting Payment Single is $546 plus a health care card, pharmaceutical allowance, educational allowances, etc…
Rent assistance $125 – 150 depending on the number of kids and cost of rent
Family Tax Benefits Part A $145 per child under 13
Family Tax Benefits Part B $125 is your youngest is under 5

So compare the $1000 or so per fortnight for a single mum with one kid against the $500 or so for the dole/newstart plus rent assistance and popping out kidlets seems to be a nice little earner even before you take into account the baby bonus.

for a single mum, having a kid pays better than working in retail, but the hours really suck…

but I think the simplest way to eradicate such scum is to go out on the streets and shoot anyone wearing a bum-bag

Where to put my keys wallet and mobile while jogging now, lest I get culled whilst trying to improve my own life.

Lets not hide behind a cloak of political correctness here. If the mother wasn’t aboriginal then her kids would have been removed (not stolen) years ago.

Scrap the bonus all together and pay mums govt maternity leave at 75% of their salary. If you work and take time off to care for a child you have to take a massive hit in the pocket to do so which the baby bonus doesn’t exactly cover.

If you are on centrelink payments the scenario plays out differently:
Have sprog – bonus 5k then get a pay rise for having 2 kids.

I have a 4 month old boy. I look at him and think “Fuck! How could anyone hurt something so completely helpless?” What the hell is wrong with people! You make the decision to have children, you accept that they will come first. Always! If that means you miss out on some things, so be it. Too many people breed without thinking about what you need to give up. Or how much work it is. But the fact remains, you are responsible for this little person’s wellbeing.

The mother of the Brisbane twins was a member of one of my parenting forums. I’m not going to comment too much on that situation, but she was clearly clueless and what she did to those gorgeous kids is unforgivable.

Personally, I think breeding while on welfare should be outlawed. Have Centrelink instal implanon rods when these people sign up to collect their unemployment/disability/whatever else benefits they get? If people are too stupid/irresponsible to look after their own fertility, take the choice away from them as part of the deal for getting taxpayer support.

I don’t think it even needs to go that far. All Centrelink need to do is slap a 9 month bill onto a PPS (Parent Payment Single) that comes straight out of their $5k baby bonus if they have another sprog. Somebody’s been telling lies to Centrelink if they are claiming PPS and getting pregnant.

Thats enough of a slap, not getting their full enntiiitllllemmentttt is enough to spur otherwise irresponsible people into towing the line.

Do it twice, get blacklisted for all government payments for life barring superannuation. If you can no longer handle your kids under these circumstances, forfeit them to the state.

@ant – It doesn’t happen often although I am going to agree with you on this one.

Changes to the baby bonus means if you are receiving welfare or under a certain age then the money is spread out over several payments. I have a friend (yes, I am not always obnoxious) who works in a large chain electrical store. He sees people come in regularly and spend the entire baby bonus amount on luxury items. They will even run a tally to make sure they don’t go over.

Clearly the bar for Katy’s dept was set far, far lower than the police’s.

I wonder what the mentality is when people who can’t look after their kids figure, I can’t look after x kids, so I’ll have another one.

Personally, I think breeding while on welfare should be outlawed. Have Centrelink instal implanon rods when these people sign up to collect their unemployment/disability/whatever else benefits they get? If people are too stupid/irresponsible to look after their own fertility, take the choice away from them as part of the deal for getting taxpayer support.

Fabforty did you just call this lady a “victim” holy fffing christ are you serious? How about I take you to Timor where people were chopped up and thrown in wells or Rwanda where roughly 800,000 were killed with machetes or Burma where bloated bodies are still clogging up rivers or draw your attention to the rape and murder of Anita Cobby so you know what victims really are. At what point does a person think “oh yeah dog shit in that shower nothing wrong with that” “the stench coming from the kitchen yeah that’s normal”

Do not refer to this person as a victim… the children are the victims and should be stripped away and given every assistance. She should be taken to a nice hole deep in the bush. No excuses, when the single strongest instinct of humans, that of looking after children, is so dangerously and blatantly breeched then there is no rehabilitation and nor is it deserved.

And I don’t want to hear about waah waah mental illness, waah waah drugs… oh there’s extenuating circumstances, it’s child abuse plain and simple.

Maybe instead of yearly “rego inspections” that was posted about here a few days ago we should have yearly “child checkups” until age 12 to evaluate their well being and their living conditions. I’d rather see that than everyone driving around with perfectly operating brake lights.

Friggin victim, fabforty I have some books you really need to read, and some places to visit.

Mental illness and/or addiction. Has to be (having seen the state of the house on telly). There has to be more to it than reported, as it is OK to leave a 13 yo in charge legally eg as a babysitter . . .

Just pointing out a practical aspect that might be worth avoiding, especially if considering sentencing a woman to prison for child abuse or neglect, while at the same time quoting from both the butch woman from Prisoner and the Simpsons’ Moe Sizlack.
(both are now dinner or prime time shows on reruns now by the way fabforty and Illyria)

Purely from a cousin’s recent experience of women’s prison, apprently the ladies at the top of the prison heap are a cruel bunch.
But nobody wants to end up married to whoever owns the most cigarettes.

ant said :

Mr Evil said :

$5000/newborn kid – why wouldn’t these muppets breed!

Yeah as I have said before, give these junkies $5000 for having a hysterectomy, so they can never give birth, then they can go out and kill themselves without an innocent kid suffering.

chaton said :

It makes me sad that there are so many amazing people who can’t have children, who would be the most amazing parents, and then a bunch of idiots breeding and bringing kids into the world in an awful cycle of abuse, neglect etc

How true, how very true…

Mr Evil said :

$5000/newborn kid – why wouldn’t these muppets breed!

The reality is that $5000 doesn’t go very far if you spend it on drugs, alcohol, ciggies, bingo or lotto!

What Mr Evil said. Now there’s quite an incentive for exactly the least desirable people to breed, the ones who fix their eyes on a big fat wad of instant cash so they can finance whatever useless habits they have. That they’ll be responsible for a new kid is the least of their worries. Need more money? Squirt out another little money-maker.

You’re probably right there Special G but what can you do when people self ban themselves from the clubs with poker machines or the casino… then complain when entrance is refused when they turn up (drunk in several cases that come to mind).

A small step in the rigt direction would be to remove the poker machines that take notes! I remember the good old days of slowly pouring 10c and 20c into machines. If you need a gambling fix it slows you down and you might, just might, remember you forgot to pay ACTEW and the TV isn’t on and therefore the kiddies have nothing…

My guess would be alcohol and gambling addiction. I find it funny that most addictive behaviours are regulated to some degree. eg Responsible service of alcohol – clubs can be fined heavily for continuing to serve drunk people. Yet there is nothing in place to combat gambling addictions except for a small sticker (have you got a gambling addiction).

Should there be limits enforced by the clubs to how long someone can sit at a gaming machine? So when mum goes on a bender and 20 hour pokie session on payday the kiddies aren’t left at home huddled in front of the TV waiting for the BBQ’s Galore ad for warmth.

Katy G has no idea what is going on around the place. She is so touchy feely nothing would ever get done in relation to these sorts of issues.

These kids always deserve better regardless of the physical or mental state of their mum. I used to work security at the Food and Wine Frolic and the lost causes I used to have to eject from the park with their little kids in tow would make your mind boggle.

Not sure we can blame DoCS for everything either. I’ve got a cousin in Canberra who’se had 5 kids to 3 different blokes. She’s been on everything from glue to Ice. Luckily she doesn’t have custody of any of her kids so DoCS obviously has its success stories too. Although having said that, I also think the use of a .22 several years ago would have cost the taxpayer a lot less than she costs us now.

Blame the welfare state for these degenerates.

We should get rid of welfare, like the US. There’s no child neglect there.

Have to say the Baby bonus is definantly not helping here. Might not be a
factor in this case but look at that one in SA she allready had 10 kids
or whatever the number was and had another one on the way. I can only assume
it was to grab another $5000. The whole concept is just stupid why dont they
just abolish it and give out child care rebates or something along those lines
instead.

Skidbladnir said :

Mr Evil said :

I hope she does time for this: those women in prison will make her wake up to herself.

The women in prison will slice her open like a box, right up the flaps.

Ummm…where is the moderator ?

For those of us with some intellect, I think this issue raises several issues.

I think in time it will be revealed this woman suffers from mental illness. She is another victim of the government plan a decade ago to close the institutions and place the mentally ill into the community. Unfortunately the money saved by selling off the institutions was not put back into services to support these people. Many of them were cast out to fend for themselves to cope the best they could, with no living skills and being vulnerable prey to any predator that comes along.

She obviously has never been taught how to care for herself, her children or about basic hygiene. She probably doesn’t know any better than the circumstances in which she was living. Not only has she suffered but now so do her children.

The mental health system in the ACT is apalling. More importance is being placed on the individual’s autonomy than their own safety and that of their children.

I do, however, question the dubious involvement of the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services regarding the children and the state of the house. If the woman in question didn’t have the right life skills then they should have supported her better.

One agency finding nothing wrong on the Wednesday suggests incompetance on the part of that agency.

Nice visual right around dinner time:(

Mr Evil said :

I hope she does time for this: those women in prison will make her wake up to herself.

The women in prison will slice her open like a box, right up the flaps.

I-filed said :

Listen out for her “clarification” – she will blame her department for poor advice …

Or lack of resources. “Our workers have a very heavy caseload”, “We are recruiting at the moment”, “we do not have enough foster carers” yada yada yada

Throw some money at the problem Katy. Early intervention might save the govt some money down the track on Quamby, Jail or the next generation of kids with kids in foster care.

Deadmandrinking said :

why are we avoiding the problems of our own people and building schools in china?

I agree wholeheartedly.

Tim Costello is out there campaigning for more overseas aid when the money is needed desperately in our own backyard to help our own children.

It is very sad that in light of all of the sad cases we have seen recently of children starving to death or suffering from extreme neglect, neither the Federal Budget or the last ACT Budget have allocated any additional funding for the area of child protection.

Listen out for her “clarification” – she will blame her department for poor advice …

MelonHead, she was saying somthing similar on the radio this morning, that the welfare paeople had visited just last week and that everything was just fine – it seems pretty odd to me that a families world can turn to crap between Wednesday and Sunday.

I understand that the authorites have to be careful when making assessments of the conditions people live in – not everyone lives in a house that looks like it could be from an interior design magazine, but from what’s coming out now this place was in such a bad state it couldn’t have got that way in less than a week.

As I said before I think that there’s more to this than we’re being told.

MelonHead said :

She can’t be that stupid, or mislead by her advisers.

Yep, that’s “our” Katy!

Tell me I didn’t just hear Katy G on ABC radio saying words to the effect that there was no problem here, and that the authorities had been in touch with the family “as late as last Wedndesday”

She can’t be that stupid, or mislead by her advisers. FFS!!

It was the 4pm radio news on 666 Thursday

Katie Gallagher just said on air that the children were “well cared for” … what do you expect, from the Minister who “consults with the drug using community” as though they are her social peers. Fool.

Looking at the state of the yard why didn’t the neighbours make that call earlier…..

Jail wont help the kiddies – I think it is deserved but the kids will always suffer from what has been done. Mum shouldn’t be allowed (by society) to have unaccompanied access to her kids when she gets out of the big house.

OzChick said :

More details have emerged… Sad…

“A COURT has been told police searching the house of a Canberra woman charged with child neglect found knives in clothes, dog faeces in the shower and a decaying pot roast in the oven.

Police also discovered children huddling together trying to keep warm in front of the TV, the court heard.”

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23925602-421,00.html

Sad indeeed. Brings a tear to my eye to hear of a good pot roast being wasted.

The father (or fathers?) of these children has also negelected to provide basic care. I hope they find him and arrest him too.

I hope she does time for this: those women in prison will make her wake up to herself.

More details have emerged… Sad…

“A COURT has been told police searching the house of a Canberra woman charged with child neglect found knives in clothes, dog faeces in the shower and a decaying pot roast in the oven.

Police also discovered children huddling together trying to keep warm in front of the TV, the court heard.”

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23925602-421,00.html

Affirmative Action Man said :

You wonder how on earth the housing authorities let the premises get to the conditions they do without taking action. I would have thought that a commission house that looks like the local garbage tip is a good indicator of problems.

sorry, double post….

try doing that to a private rental and see how long you last. I can guarantee that you would be out on your ear…

There are various agencies in Canberra providing support to parents who are unable to cope. Marymead, Barnardos and Gallilea to name a few. Parents are able to ask for help and obtain crisis or respite care for periods up to 21 days at a time without Care and Protection services becoming involved. These agencies and other organisations like the Salvation Army and Centacare are out in droves trying to support families.

There is plenty of support available, but many people do not ask for it, or want it.

There are also plenty of children in Canberra who have been removed from their families when support was not enough due to concerns about the parents ability to meet their needs, but the Courts have ordered them home under supervision from Care and Protection. I guess this was the story with the kids in Ainslie.

Unfortunately, the legacy of the Stolen Generations is still influencing how we treat the removal of any children now. There is hope however that the new ACT Childrens Act which comes in in the next few months will make it harder for the Courts to apply the “Best interests of the child” principle as always remaining with the birth family (even if they do not feed them and keep them warm and clean).

My understanding is that under the new Act, the Ainslie mum would be given a maximum of 2 years to get her act together or the kids would be placed on orders until they were 18.

By the way, there are some excellent foster carers in the ACT who have had great successes with often challenging children. Please don’t tar them all with a bad brush.

Deadmandrinking said :

Ah, Ralph, nice to have you back with your militant right-wing diatribe that makes other right-wingers slowly back away…

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a case of mental illness myself. Living in squalor is a symptom of quite a few disorders an the additional charges lead me to believe she may suffer from violent delusions.

I don’t think just finger-pointing and trying to decide who should breed and who shouldn’t is going to help the situation at all. That’s the commercial media’s style of adressing problems.

Mental illness is alive and well in the Canberra community. It has many victims beyond the person who suffers it. Stigmatizing sufferers and excluding them from society will not help.

This woman sounds like she does need to be in an institution, as she evidently cannot care for herself in this state, let alone others. I hope she is able to be get the help she needs through the legal system, for her kids sake as well as hers.

the problem is that there are many people in this situation, some of which get chucked into ainslie village, where their problems grow, manifesting into something far worse than when they arrived there in the first place.

Perhaps the tax dollars could go into setting up managed care facilities like marymead where the parents could be helped in getting into society again – some families are the way they are through neglect that they have suffered as children – broken homes etc, or run away kids, and the govt seems to avoid them, instead sending money overseas for aid, not sorting out the problems in their own backyard.

how many people notice the old guys in their cardboard boxes in civic? is the red cross kitchen still open?

why are we avoiding the problems of our own people and building schools in china?

You wonder how on earth the housing authorities let the premises get to the conditions they do without taking action. I would have thought that a commission house that looks like the local garbage tip is a good indicator of problems.

Ah, Ralph, nice to have you back with your militant right-wing diatribe that makes other right-wingers slowly back away…

I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a case of mental illness myself. Living in squalor is a symptom of quite a few disorders an the additional charges lead me to believe she may suffer from violent delusions.

I don’t think just finger-pointing and trying to decide who should breed and who shouldn’t is going to help the situation at all. That’s the commercial media’s style of adressing problems.

Mental illness is alive and well in the Canberra community. It has many victims beyond the person who suffers it. Stigmatizing sufferers and excluding them from society will not help.

This woman sounds like she does need to be in an institution, as she evidently cannot care for herself in this state, let alone others. I hope she is able to be get the help she needs through the legal system, for her kids sake as well as hers.

I’m getting a little off the topic, but I think the simplest way to eradicate such scum is to go out on the streets and shoot anyone wearing a bum-bag. Maybe the people who culled the kangaroos could get the job done.

Probably wouldn’t hurt if they gave the baby bonus out by way of food & clothing vouchers, although I guess they’d just end up selling these for $$$$ anyway.

Good one Ralph. We all know that before Whitlam, no-one ever neglected their children, got addicted to drugs or alcohol, or engaged in any type of crime.

It makes me sad that there are so many amazing people who can’t have children, who would be the most amazing parents, and then a bunch of idiots breeding and bringing kids into the world in an awful cycle of abuse, neglect etc

You don’t have to go back to Whitlam. Howard was singlehandedly responsible for building the greatest nanny-welfare state since federation – it’s going to take decades to pull that appart.

AD, there are really only 2 types of people that have kids, those that are responsible and those that aren’t.

Thankyou, Mr Whitlam.

Blame the welfare state for these degenerates.

Mental illness and / or drugs could easily be catalyst of this situation. Lets hope the people involved get all the support they need to sort themselves out and the children are given the care and tools required to stop the cycle continuing.

Thanks peterh – often these cases are mental illness, and neighbours should be helping, not tut-tutting.

mr evil you beat me to the punch line..

there 3 types of people that have kids.. those that want them, those that can’t think for themselves and think it is what they are supposed to do and those that just want the baby bonus.

smokey4 said :

Unfortunately Thumper they breed quite well. This a society problem and is managed by to many govt departments. ie Facsia, Centrelink, HIC state and in other places local government agencies plus several charities. Sort of works on the basis that one agency will get it right. There is no cheap fix. Society does not value the time and effort to correct the problem.

Smokey4, I have been involved in several programs over the years, YMCA, Youth Insearch, church groups etc. I value the time and effort, as i have had to use carers who were volunteers. the bigger problem is that there is a lack of education in the schooling system about what happens with kids when you are a parent. there is emphasis on sex ed, and pregnancy / birth, but nothing on changing nappies, burping, waking for feeds at 1 am, 3am, 5am, then going to work / school with less than 3 hours sleep.
perhaps if the day to day experience of being a parent was drummed into the next generation, less people would rush in to being a parent.

$5000/newborn kid – why wouldn’t these muppets breed!

The reality is that $5000 doesn’t go very far if you spend it on drugs, alcohol, ciggies, bingo or lotto!

A hot poker up the coit/schlong for all of them!!!!!

Unfortunately Thumper they breed quite well. This a society problem and is managed by to many govt departments. ie Facsia, Centrelink, HIC state and in other places local government agencies plus several charities. Sort of works on the basis that one agency will get it right. There is no cheap fix. Society does not value the time and effort to correct the problem.

Seriously, some people should not breed.

unfortunately, they do. what needs to be instilled into these people is: “get a backbone! doesn’t end when you pull your pants up / roll over etc” you are responsible for a LIFE!

why do they have these kids then ignore them? mine delight me every day – my 3yo painting the walls brown (eeeew) was a bit of a surprise, but I am working full time, so missed the clean up, just the description.

i have mates that were into the drug scene, grew up, had kids, and their priorities changed. the priorities were drummed into them by their parents. they knew that kids came first everything else second.

the one time I have seen a child in neglect, I was horrified and saddened by the fact that the parents did not initially ask for help. The mum had had a nervous breakdown, the dad had tried his best to continue looking after the kids. I stepped in after he asked for help, and they are fine now, after a lot of hard work. I did not judge them, I just helped out where they needed it. (and at that stage, I wasn’t even a parent)

maybe the ACT government should put some of the “Budget surplus” into an ad campaign saying:

IF YOU CAN’T COPE, ASK FOR HELP!
contact act health for more info…..

What I want to know, is when does a parent decide to let their kids take second place?

One word Peter. Drugs. Not always, but a hell of a lot of the time. I also think that there’s going to be more to this story than whats in the public domain at present.

I to find it hard to understand how any parent can neglect the fundamental duty of care that they have to their children.

What I want to know, is when does a parent decide to let their kids take second place? If you can’t handle everything that is going on, ask for help. My wife was struggling to cope with the twins when they were newborn, I couldn’t take much time off to help, and a wonderful carer group stepped in after we called them. They are a church based organisation, and weren’t judgmental of us, they honestly wanted to help. Since then, one of the carers has become a trusted friend to us and godmother to the twins.

If we had not asked for help, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

I have had to skip meals to allow the purchase of essentials for my kids (large amounts of nappies / formula etc), but that was my choice and something that I felt I had to do.

I was carrying a bit of extra weight at the time, so I could survive on body fat :->