<p>Sickening! I’ve been following this case and hoping that this little girl would be found alive.
I hope the mother and all of those involved never see the light of day outside of their prison cells. I hope they all get what they deserve from the other inmates.</p>
<p>Heartbreaking. I had hope that this would have some kind of happy ending, but this is horrible. I wonder what kind of upbringing the mother had to have treated her daughter that way. It’s hard for me to imagine that the mother came from a healthy family. I think that even with a drug habit, someone who had grown up in a happy home wouldn’t have pimped her 5-year-old daughter.</p>
<p>I don’t care what kind of upbringing the mother had–it’s no excuse for what she did.
Don’t try to justify or look for an explanation for her behavior. She alledgedly sold her daughter off to be raped and killed. This isn’t about race, finances, mental health, or family dynamics—it’s about a little girl and her senseless brutalization and death which was allowed to occur because of the actions of her mother.</p>
<p>I think having an interest in what sort of environmental,chemical, or biological forces may have brought a parent to do such a thing is not the same as making an “excuse” for it. It’s trying to analyse and understand how and why such things can happen, not just that they happen. It’s looking deeper in, not with any desire to see less punishment meted out, but wanting something that goes beyond 'sting ‘em up!’ – which is not to say that people who do look deeper don’t also have those feelings.</p>
<p>I’m usually in the camp with those who want to analyze and understand, but there’s nothing else in the news in recent years that has made me react viscerally like this has. Right now I just wish great suffering on those who did this horrible, horrible thing. I want so badly not to think about this.</p>
<p>" don’t care what kind of upbringing the mother had–it’s no excuse for what she did.
Don’t try to justify or look for an explanation for her behavior. "</p>
<p>An explanation isn’t an excuse. The more we know about what may have allowed the mother to participate in such a heinous thing, the more we’ll be able to prevent such heartbreaking things happening to other children. That may include providing more resources for child protection agencies.</p>
<p>I actually have volunteered with and interviewed imprisoned women addicts, and virtually all were sexually abused and very neglected as children. I also remember interviewing a recovering crack addict, former prostitute who said that when she was using, she hadn’t even known if the 8-year-old son who lived with her even was enrolled in school.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, we don’t know whether the mother sold her child into prostitution or whether she was too high to know what was going on with her child. I’m not saying the woman shouldn’t be punished. What happened to her child was unspeakable and likely wouldn’t have happened if the mother had been responsible. </p>
<p>I am saying, however, she may not have deliberately sold her child to someone who’d rape and kill her.</p>
<p>What a sad, sad story. When I saw the father being interviewed a couple of days ago , he seemed so broken up about it. I can’t imagine the feelings of guilt he is going thru now, letting the mother have their child.</p>
<p>Okay, this might sound horrible. Whenever I hear about a child who has been severely abused (and I am not sure this child had been, but am guessing that was the case), and then dies, a small part of me is relieved that the abuse finally stopped and that a terribly damaged person will not grow up to inflict God knows what kind of pain on others. </p>
<p>I guess I don’t have much faith in these cases being caught and the child removed, treated, and allowed to grow up in a functional family.</p>
<p>Well said. One can rightfully feel anger and blame toward the person responsible, and hold them fully and solely accountable but also seek to understand <em>why</em>. If we aren’t interested in understanding how or why some people are capable of such horrific actions, we’ll never learn how to prevent such horrific actions.</p>
<p>My husband & I saw the story on tv several times while the little girl was still missing. We both commented on how cute & full of life that child was. When I read the update today at lunch, my heart just sank. I told my coworkers, and we had quite a conversation about the whole thing … we were all just absolutely sick. It is incomprehensible that any adult can do what probably was done with this little girl. This has really bothered me on so many levels. I so hope she felt the presence of God in some way to help her (if you read “The Shack,” you understand what I mean).</p>
<p>She obviously had her daughter when she was quite young- the mother is just 25 now.
The mother of Antionette, doesn’t believe she had anything to do with it.
I would agree that help needs to start earlier and I believe that it needs to begin when children are still in school about the rights and responsibilities that come with being sexually active and having children.
Children should not have children. Period.
People who are not emotionally, physically and financially able to support their children, should not be parents.
More emphasis should be placed on communicating that, so we can break the cycle.
Much less expensive all the way around if the cycle can be broken before any pregnancy occurs.</p>