Mum kept baby hidden in drawer for nearly 3 years !!

[benjaminjamesandgraham]

Even Christmas day she was kept in a drawer - oh how can someone be so cruel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gz1dv8ly2o

So if this child had such complex needs where was the midwife and doctors ? Why didn't the mother seek help? So many questions.

Without reading the whole thread - and acknowledging that abuse and neglect happens in all types of families - I wondered whether there was a cultural aspect to this? As if the child due to deformities would be frowned upon.

Still irrelevant what day it was considering this was 3 years of constant trauma for a small child.

I disagree. It could have said “Trigger warning: news article child neglect” or similar. I don’t need to be hit with this on the homepage, the title tells the full story and leaves the reader’s imagination to it.

This is horrendous. There must be more going on.
There may be other genetic abnormalities present. It could be the result of two parents closely related and maybe non consensual.

What a horrific case. I can't imagine what that poor child went through.

I'm glad the identities of all involved are protected, at least for now. It's an incredibly complicated and traumatic case. There are other children involved, and we don't know what they know about the situation. The press behave so ghoulishly. They would prey upon that entire family.

There is detachment from the situation and then there is this. If you were detached you would dump the baby somewhere or kill her/let her die Keeping the baby alive despite it being in appalling conditions will have taken a large amount of time, effort and resources.

Definitely more to the story though as no one in their right mind would take the actions she chose to.

Mumsnet is a discussion board. People will discuss the news.

The judge's sentencing remarks are not available, so we don't have the full reasoning. She entered her guilty plea at the first hearing in the Crown Court, so the sentence was 10 years less a 25% reduction for pleading guilty. That means the judge has placed this in category 1A - the highest level of culpability and harm. The maximum sentence that could have been imposed was 12 years (which would have been 9 years with the reduction for pleading guilty). However, she was unlikely to get that as there are some mitigating factors (no previous relevant convictions and co-operation with the investigation). It is possible the judge could have gone a little higher, but not much. This is not a case that would allow the judge to step outside the sentencing guidelines.

What have I just read? I have so many questions

Poor little soul. Would a cleft palette have shown up in a scan? Did she find out and then go into denial?

I had to channel hop as the report made me feel very sad for that child.

Not relevant that the baby was left alone for 2 days??

The prosecutor presumably mentioned Christmas because while the siblings were getting presents, the baby was in a drawer!

I know, that’s why I’m questioning whether something else was going on. I’m not excusing it, my daughter suffered neglect, neglect she’ll never recover from. But the reporting of this feels a bit off, I haven’t read that a psych report was presented for example. There are no reasons or conjecture as to why in the reporting - there usually is. Is something being glossed over? In March 2020 social services couldn’t even read or pass on our letters onto birth families due to contamination risks - it’s never really recovered. What else was stopped or ignored? Was the woman scared to go to hospital because the child had a birth defect? Remember the DNR notices they put on some. As I said, not excusing, just trying to understand the mentality that leads to this horrible situation. We have to try to understand, try to figure out where it went wrong - so it doesn’t happen to another child. I think loads of kids fell through the cracks in 2020 and beyond.

There are no words for my reaction to this.
I wish I’d not read this story. Just gave my son an extra cuddle before bed. How can anyone on earth be capable of this. The atrocities we have seen this year are abysmal all the children suffering still in 2024. We can do so much as humans in this age yet still we cannot manage to end child suffering.

I hope this little girl feels love annd nurturing very very quickly and knows warmth in her life from people around her. And I hope she can find a way to live and make peace with what has happened to her. x

All i can say is WTF. That poor child.

You don't think two days is a long time to leave a child alone?

I think it was a hidden pregnancy/she says she didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth.

Even Christmas day she was kept in a drawer - oh how can someone be so cruel

what a bizarre take out of the whole thing. Would the mother have been redeemed if she got her out the drawer for Xmas day?

7 years is that all she got. I hope they tear her to pieces in prison. That poor girl will suffer her entire life due to early malnutrition, developmental trauma, neglect, deformities. The mother is a monster

I also wondered this and the fact the child was a girl.

Ah, so that would explain the lack of a midwife or doctor being involved at the birth. She would have had to have registered the birth though, so someone must have been aware of this child's existence? 🤔

It clearly says it was a hidden pregnancy. The midwives and doctors didn't know the child existed.

I saw this on the news, it made me cry, I really felt for the social worker who discovered it. I am sure the images of that poor child will live in their mind forever. I hope the little girl goes on to have a life that heals her from the trauma of her early years. The news report said she was in foster care. Why and how did this happen? I am guessing that the pregnancy and the birth was concealed. As for the effect on the other children, finding out you have a sibling who has been hidden and who has gone through such horrendous abuse, the vicarious trauma must be immense

Neglect is neglect. Makes no difference what day of the year it is.