I’m not going to argue with any of that.
All children deserve to be protected and that’s our number one job as parents. I just don’t know enough yet to know that she was neglected. Maybe she was. She wasn’t in an ideal situation for sure, but her being on SM or in makeup or at home alone or even living in a crowded trailer with family to finish out the school year doesn’t equal neglect to me. Now, subjecting her to a drug fueled environment, particularly meth, or knowingly letting your child live next door to a violent person is something else, but I don’t know enough of what was known yet.
Right now I am blaming the piece of trash who murdered her and I feel so sad for her mother.
I'm not blaming anyone but the murderer. I've said that clearly and am not sure how I can make that any clearer.
Those of us who have the sense that this was a vulnerable child who may not have been protected as she should've been aren't blaming anyone else. Not victim blaming. Not blaming her family. It's simply a fact and noteworthy that vulnerable children are more at risk of this kind of thing.
The only reason I brought that up was due to the discussion about make up and social media access and whether those are or can be relevant to what happened to her.
My opinion is that they may be relevant to whether she was vulnerable child or even neglected.
Of course I don't know if she was neglected. I can't say that definitively. But:
1. She wasn't living with her parents. So something went wrong.
2. She was living in close proximity to a violent criminal. Something her caregivers had to have known, IMO.
3. Despite that, she was left unattended.
4. She had multiple social media accounts. At age 11. Which included photos of her in very heavy, adult-style make-up. Pouting and posing.
5. This child is featured in various social media photos heavily made up and not just for dance class, from what I can tell. Her make up is very adult.
All of that combined signals something to me. That this was a vulnerable child who may not have been protected by those responsible for her.
But more importantly, all of that signals that she was a vulnerable child to predators who would then see her as easy prey.
That's the issue.
I can't blame anyone else because there are various reasons why a child can become vulnerable and at risk which aren't anyone's fault, such as mental illness, physical illness or financial issues of the parents, among other things.
My only point is for those demanding we not mention her appearance or social media access, as s if those of us discussing that issue are victim blaming, they're not understanding the issue.
I see a lot of things that make it appear that this child had major difficulties in her life and was easy prey for the monster who came across her path.
I don't even think much can reasonably be done to make all our children less vulnerable or even most of them. It's all so complex. But whoever mentioned getting involved, like becoming a CASA. That's a great idea. There are small things we can do to make a child's life better.
