Toddler and newborn twins .... Is there a thread on this? (WARNING; Upsetting content. Added by MNHQ)

[llamallama]

I saw a post on Facebook about it and now just can't get the thoughts out of my head

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/tragedy-merseyside-toddler-accidentally-drowns-6380956

The mum must have been so out of it not to hear what was going on!

Is there a thread on this already? I did a search but nothing came up.

I feel so awful for that poor 3 year old

[RedLondonBus]

Social services and sure start are little use day to day are they? They can't be there all the time. And as for family/friends.... She was in a hostel. So doubt she had that kind of support. And even if she did have them locally, they can't be there either

An alcoholic will always find a way

[HermioneWeasley]

I can't see what could have been done to protect the kids other than take them into care, and then there would be an outraged thread on here saying that SS are too quick to do that. And I guess that if all the kids of alcoholics were taken into care, the system would collapse.

[Dontbugmemalone]

I was just giving examples, as I wrote previously, I don't know exactly what help is available. I just feel that more could have been done.

MamuPingu wrote what I meant to say better than me.

[RedLondonBus]

I doubt more could have been done always easy to say that afterwards

[Juliet123456]

Yes, I read about it. How very sad.

We can certainly do a lot more research into the causes of alcoholism. There is a genetic component.

Secondly more families could make sure drink is not part of every day life. There is no need for most people to drink alcohol every day. Plenty of different cultures in the UK don't drink at all and manage happy lives.

Thirdly we can try to make sure fathers are very very involved in family life even after a split.

However accidents happen in all sorts of families whether there is alcohol or not. I bet few of us could be sure that something like that could never happen - that a toddler could not have got its hands on the baby and hurt it. We went into the older two's bedroom when one was 1 in her cot and the other in a bed next door (she was 3) and the older one was hitting the 1 year old over the head with a big plastic toy. We heard the screams. The little one couldn't speak by that age so just pointed at her head and rubbed it. No harm done thankfully. I also shut my 1 year old son's finger in the door and the end came off although it was later stuck back on in hospital - no lasting harm done. I had no idea it was in the door at the time.

You read cases like this and think there but for the grace of God go we.

[cestlavielife]

She had fled domestic violence.
You can't have violent parents fathers involved when they violent .

That is wholly unrealistic.

You have to try to get those violent parents into treatment first.

And treatment programmes for violent parents have very low success rates sadly.

[hoppingmad]

I think it is human nature to be so horrified by something that you can't help thinking how it could have been prevented.
Specialised support centres where parents could get treatment for their dependency and also receive help with caring for the newborns maybe? Of course that runs the risk of being a bit 'nanny state' and funding would be a nightmare and it might not even work so can't see how it would be feasible but that doesn't stop every part of me screaming to turn back the clock and stop it. It's just too sad not to think 'if only....'

[phantomnamechanger]

oh how utterly utterly awful I hope the toddler receives appropriate care to enable them to move on

[JemR234]

That is one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Just such a horrific situation all round. I hope that the 3 year old is able to recover from this and that his life is not completely destroyed.

[RedLondonBus]

Well I'm hoping that he's now with a new family and able to live a good life without his main carer being drunk. Poor child