PA - Woman Charged For Sending Kids To School With Head Lice

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White Rain

White Rain

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BELLE VERNON, Pa. — A Belle Vernon, Pa., woman was charged with endangering her children after she sent them to school with lice despite warnings that they could not attend class until they had been cleaned up, police said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Nicole Lynn Holmes was sent to jail to await a preliminary hearing on Friday, according to police.
The Belle Vernon Area School District contacted police, charging that Holmes had ignored several warnings about the children's lice infestation, court records show.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344928,00.html
 
Having been a foster parent for over 9 years I have heard many horror stories about children coming into care with head lice. Let me tell ya, they are REALLY hard to get rid of and I know of two foster homes that did everything and then some and still had a problem!

I have never encountered the little suckers myself, just thinking about it gives me the willies!

When I received a child anything they came with stayed outside . ( no biggy they usually came with next to nothing in a hefty bag anyway) I would spray an entire can of roach killer into the bag, tied it up and leave it there for days before being it in and washing it like 5 times in hot water before I even sorted through it.
 
I'd like to know the "rest of the story" on this one.

First of all, head lice runs rampant once it gets into a school or daycare. I know, because that's how my daughter caught it. It took us FOREVER to get rid of. We bagged stuffed animals and stuffed them in the freezer. We washed everything we could with bleach and sprayed an anti-lice solution on the mattresses, couches, throw pillows and rugs. I spent hours upon hours doing the hair treatment and going through her long thick hair under a bright light with a fine toothed comb and using my fingernails when the comb didn't work --sometimes she even fell asleep with me still "hunting."

So, was the Mom trying with over the counter stuff and just not succeeding? Has this been an ongoing problem (year after year)? Did Mom even know they still had it or had gotten it again? I feel like I'm missing a huge piece of the puzzle on this one.
 
Hmmm...this one is a real head-scratcher.:waitasec: :waitasec: :waitasec: :crazy:

But, seriously, who is washing the children's hair, bedding, etc. if the mom is in jail? Jail seems a bit extreme.
 
:laugh: :laugh:
Truly said:
Hmmm...this one is a real head-scratcher.:waitasec: :waitasec: :waitasec: :crazy:

But, seriously, who is washing the children's hair, bedding, etc. if the mom is in jail? Jail seems a bit extreme.
Click to expand...

I agree! Give the woman some help, you don't arrest and jail her
 
This is right around the corner from me, I'll see what the news or the local paper has to say about it. I don't think we're getting the whole story here either. I know that last year, two schools had major outbreaks and the parents were going nuts trying to get rid the problem.
 
Even though head lice are a massive pain in the rear, they are completely harmless. How the heck is this endangering? Must be more to the story indeed.
 
When my kids were in school, there was one mom I would like to have seen go to jail over lice! She was a crank head that really did not care. It took years for them to finally take her kids away...which was far too long.

It sounds like overall neglect might have preceded this drastic measure.
 
I have heard lice bugs are becoming "immune" to the OTC meds and such.
My oldest daughter kept on and kept on catching it in the 1st grade...
I would wash all the bed clothing in hot water, stuffed animals were put in plastic bags for weeks, carpet was reg. vacuumed AND shampooed...neither her younger sister or I ever caught it (and I treated ALL 3 OF OUR HEADS)...
lice is a VERY frustrating thing.
I DO NOT think this woman deserved jail.
 
what prompted the call to police was not the fact the children had lice. it was that after the mother sent them to school repeatedly while they had lice she refused to pick them up from school.
 
My children got head lice repeatedly a few years ago. I treated them, sent them back to school, and within a few days they had it again. The teacher was quite sympathetic and admitted to me she knew there was one child in the class who was repeatedly coming to school untreated. She had tried talking to the mother, but mom refused to believe the child had lice.

I got tired of spending $25 each time for the stuff to treat the kids with, and of my daughter coming home in tears, so finally I just called the school and said until they addressed the problem my kids weren't coming back. I was tired of exposing them to whatever chemical is in that stuff, and we were spending every night combing through hair, etc.

I also called my school board representative-the next day, the health dept came to the school with nurses who checked EVERYONE, sent kids home who had it, and then required they be rechecked before returning to school. The teacher quietly took up a collection fromt he other parents, bought the lice shampoo and gave it to the mother who was causing all the trouble....
 
You do not need a doctor to treat head lice. Why was the school insisting that she take the children to see a doctor?

Infestations are heck to get rid of, leave one little nit behind and you've got to start all over again. I just have a hard time seeing this as abuse or neglect.
 
OTC stuff doesn't work very well at all anymore. I used, and don't laugh, it worked Listerine and vinegar. Worked like a charm and no more problems. Apparently, she has more problems than lice, she's been charged with summary offenses over school attendance as well.

Here's the newspaper article, it's on the front page around here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/news/s_560263.html
 
Eire said:
OTC stuff doesn't work very well at all anymore. I used, and don't laugh, it worked Listerine and vinegar. Worked like a charm and no more problems. Apparently, she has more problems than lice, she's been charged with summary offenses over school attendance as well.

Here's the newspaper article, it's on the front page around here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/news/s_560263.html
Click to expand...

Eire when my little sisters got it the shampoo didn't work either. My mom used mayo. You put it on the hair and then put a shower cap on, I can't remember how long but it smothers them and makes the eggs slide right off. It finally was what worked for them. That being said my mom had a cousin who would never treat her kids and they always had lice and their house was full of roaches. The school they went to was in a very bad area and so they never sent them home, I guess they thought it was useless. I actually seen a bug on one of the girls head and their mom shaved all the hair underneath because there were so many eggs, oooo.
 
My daughter caught it twice years ago and my grand daughter had it once. I used the lice killing shampoo and combed and combed with the little comb and got rid of it right away. We repeated the treatment in the recommended number of days and the school even gave me the shampoo when I asked them. It wasn't on clothing or bedding but also not a bad infestation in the hair either.
 
My oldest daughter, now 14, got lice in kindergarten. We used the smothering technique, too, after the lice shampoo didn't do squat. I used olive oil and it worked GREAT. Was just a nightmare that lasted over a month...checking her hair every day after school (after she could go back)....bagging her stuffed animals and washing everything in HOT HOT water...luckily my other two younger kids stayed clean and so did my husband and me.

To this day if one of the kids is scratching their head, I'm immediately paranoid and start checking for nits...but we have never gotten them again.
 
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