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

This has been pulled from BBC news

The court was told the mother concealed the baby's presence from her siblings by hiding her in the drawer of her divan bed, and kept her secret from her partner, who often stayed at the house, early in 2023 the girl was discovered after a visitor to the home heard a noise upstairs and found her on the bed

So according to the BBC it was a visitor who discovered the child and the partner wasn't at the house all the time.

The visitor was the partner.

Mother hid child in drawer under bed for almost three years in 'wicked beyond belief’ act | ITV News Granada

There is no making sense of the horror

I know that, @ticktickticktickBOOM - believe me I know - but it doesn't stop the human mind craving it when something so hideous happens

And when the Senior Chief Prosecutor - a woman who'll have seen more horrors than most - says "I had to take myself away and try and process what I had read" ie becomes even clearer that this is well beyond normal imagination

I was absolutely horrified to read this. I don’t know about anyone else, but my mind goes straight to thinking about all the times I’ve been enjoying myself or just living my life and this poor, poor child has been locked in a drawer and nobody knew.
We’ve all been living our lives while this was going on.

I have a niece of a similar age. It’s broken my heart.

I wonder why they don't just say partner then? Odd how it's being reported

Poor little girl, thank goodness she is getting the love and care she needs now. I really hope she has the opportunity to have the best life with her new family.

I don’t know about anyone else, but my mind goes straight to thinking about all the times I’ve been enjoying myself or just living my life and this poor, poor child has been locked in a drawer and nobody knew.

another seriously weird comment

No, cleft palette’s don’t show up in scans.

This story hits particularly close to home because my 1yo surprised us by being born with a cleft palette last year.

It means they can’t get any suction - so can’t breastfeed and need special bottles to be bottle fed. The poor little thing must have been starving without specialist help, it’s really upsetting.

Most clefts happen because “it’s just one of those things” - we don’t really know why. However, they can also be caused by drug and alcohol abuse in pregnancy, and I wonder if that was the case here.

@Whatthechicken you seem really keen to think there is some social care failings here. Social workers I work with are working beyond their workload every day and doing amazing things. I don't believe social care has not recovered since Covid. They are fucking amazing and I see them going above and beyond every day in the worst circumstances often at the detriment of their own health. I don't see any failings beyond that mother. I hope all social workers, family support workers and foster caters were offered mental health support after dealing with this horrific case. As well as the children obviously.

What’s weird about that? It’s how I felt. Thinking that for 3 years, while we were all living our lives, that poor child was locked in a drawer.

@Pluckolit yes. Or putting in prison.

I can't believe what I have just read, how did the mother hide her from the other siblings for so long? Surely someone must have heard a cry.
Didn't she have any check ups after birth or did she not give birth in a hospital?

In all my life, I have never even imagined a scenario as horrific as this. As others have already said, I too can't get my head around it.

BBC and ITV are reporting slightly differently - maybe the ITV journalist just had more information.

Most clefts happen because “it’s just one of those things” - we don’t really know why.

I genuinely thought one known cause was a lack of folic acid in early pregnancy, which is why pregnant women are encouraged to take it pre and during pregnancy ?
It also has to be said that there are a huge range of the severity of the clefts, my sibling had no issues feeding from a normal bottle or had any issues with speech, they were 'lucky' in that their cleft wasn't as severe as some. They still needed several surgeries up to their teenage years to rectify it.

She didn't tell anyone she was pregnant the baby want born in a hospital and wasn't registered.

No, cleft palette’s don’t show up in scans.

Not on the routine scans, but due to my family history, I was able to have a more in-depth scan via the NHS which would show a cleft palate, but not a cleft lip.

Oooh I really wish I hadn't read this. What a horrific story. That poor wee child. I hope she gets the help she needs now, and lots of love for the rest of her life.

This has knocked me sick. Poor baby :(

I try to, largely so I know what to look out for! But yes, there are some people who seek explanations regardless of how horrific another individual's actions are. For some it can be about curiosity, for others it's to alleviate anxiety about the unknown, for others it's awareness so they can stay safe

Yep they do say you should take more folic acid if you’ve got clefts in the family too, as it’s thought it can help.

I took mine religiously with both DS and DD, but only DD ended up with a cleft. My theory is it was a nasty virus we all caught when I was pregnant, which interrupted development - but who knows!

Didnt know you could get scans where you can see the palette too - that’s interesting.

Absolutely horrific. The sentencing is shocking.

Broken society.

I'm glad I read it because I had assumed that the baby hadn't survived.

@ticktickticktickBOOM I will save my tears for the baby thanks. The mother will probably be out in 3 years, a walk in the park compared to what that baby endured.

It is beyond comprehension isn’t it? The simple logistics of it just boggles my brain.

The poor child, and the other children who one day will know the story and probably be traumatised by what happened to their sister.

Hundreds and hundreds, with varying levels of horror. I see it day in day out.