FL - Neglected Boy, 4, Wasted Away to 10 Pounds, Pace

sherri79

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343150,00.html
PACE, Fla. — Authorities in the Florida Panhandle say they have arrested a woman suspected of severely neglecting a 4-year-old boy.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Haines says the boy weighed only 10 pounds when he was hospitalized earlier this month but his condition is improving.
Deputies on Friday arrested 19-year-old Erin Brittany Markes, identifying her only as the boy's caregiver.
Haines says Markes was apparently depriving the child of food and was not giving him prescribed medication for seizures.
 
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343150,00.html
PACE, Fla. — Authorities in the Florida Panhandle say they have arrested a woman suspected of severely neglecting a 4-year-old boy.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Haines says the boy weighed only 10 pounds when he was hospitalized earlier this month but his condition is improving.
Deputies on Friday arrested 19-year-old Erin Brittany Markes, identifying her only as the boy's caregiver.
Haines says Markes was apparently depriving the child of food and was not giving him prescribed medication for seizures.

I cannot even picture that in my mind. My four year old is tall for her age, and weighs 40 lbs. (and she is always hungry she says - so melodramatically) That poor little boy.
 
I have to wonder if this is the mother or if not, where is the mother?

care giver could mean anything.
 
The poor child probably had psychosocial dwarfism (psychogenic dwarfism) caused by an extreme stress; so wasn't at the normal height range for his age. There's no mention of a father in the article; i wonder how a 19 year old ended up as a caretaker of a child...
 
if she was the mother then that means she was only 15 when she had him....
 
This story is heartbreaking, I find it ironic the news article refers to this 19 year old as caregiver...
 
From the link provided by WildT:
"Doctors discovered that the child had lost six pounds over the last two years because of neglect."

he obviously didn't weigh much to begin with. I really wish there was more info as far as his medical conditions, because if he only weighed 16 pounds two years ago...well, that doesn't seem very healthy either.
 
Poor little guy ... I hope he ends up with someone who can care for him the way he deserves!
 
:( :mad:

I wonder when he started having seizures? Were they neurologically-based or caused by the malnutrition? They don't just hand out seizure meds. Blood has to be taken to monitor liver levels etc...so he had to have been seen by a doc at one point to get started on them.

Wasn't there anyone else in either of these people's lives that knew what was going on?
 
Heck, my cat weighs 17 lbs.
Poor little guy. I can't see how a 19 year old would be the caregiver, unless she was the mother. But ya never know, it's a crazy world.
 
She is the mother. The boy has a severe congenital brain defect that causes seizures, feeding problems and failure to thrive. Few babies with this condition survive for long. Although it sounds like she screwed up, I'm not sure that anything short of 24/7 skilled care would have kept him alive long term.

http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=80203679

She should have done a better job of getting help, but somebody should have figured out a long time ago that she couldn't handle this burden alone.

Here is a link to a Wikipedia entry about the brain defect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lissencephaly
 
So, this girl was 15 when she had this child and has been caring for him for 4 years. From reports, it appears that, at least, up through Sep of last year, she was taking him to docs. Also, $634 + $100-200 in babysitting isn't exactly a landfall for a person who is caring for a 24x7 needs child. Imho, this sounds like a case where the system failed them both. And, unless reports indicate otherwise, I am inclined to think that charging her with a crime is... well... a crime in and of itself.
 
Shadowraiths, I couldn't agree with you more. :clap:

How did they both make it this long?
 
So, this girl was 15 when she had this child and has been caring for him for 4 years. From reports, it appears that, at least, up through Sep of last year, she was taking him to docs. Also, $634 + $100-200 in babysitting isn't exactly a landfall for a person who is caring for a 24x7 needs child. Imho, this sounds like a case where the system failed them both. And, unless reports indicate otherwise, I am inclined to think that charging her with a crime is... well... a crime in and of itself.


:clap: :clap:
 
perhaps he was suffering in a way that she just could not bear to watch anymore and it was her version of euthanasia. Please do not for a moment think that I am advocating for it-I just think that the fact that the boy had been actively cared for, for quite a length of time, shows that something clearly went haywire.
 
I think the "news" coverage, especially Nancy Grace's piece on this, is disgraceful. I would have trouble dealing with an infantile 4 y/o who has seizures and needs a feeding tube. A teenager should not be expected to deal with this. It took some hunting around for me to find out what his disability is - the news coverage doesn't really let on how severe the condition can be. The cop that keeps giving the interview is making horrible judgments about this tragic situation that he should not be making at all let alone blabbing on national tv. He put her in jail, now he should stfu. She does not deserve to be tried, convicted and crucified on tv for this.

The boy needs a hospital, the mom needs .....a mom. And a grandmom. And some hugs. And where's the daddy????
 

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