Mothers who kill their children.... It is not about autism.

Disclaimer: Yes, I am opinionated.  Deal with it.

Age of Ridiculous have a new post up concerning another child who was murdered by their parent.

"Four children with autism under the age of 21 have been murdered by their parents in a single summer. Two in Dallas, TX, one in The Bronx, NY, and now Christopher Melton of Howard County, Maryland. What more can I add? KS"

The above quote is a beautiful example of how those AoA folks want everything negative to be about autism.  Four children in North America, over three months, have been murdered this summer (allegedly) by their parents.  AoA's KimS is certainly happy to demand the nation to see this as a national crisis.  The general consensus among the loons over there is that these poor parents did not have enough support (what parent does?).  That if only there were more supports in place for parents of autistic children then this would not happen!

The statistics do not work with this hew and outcry, however.  According to this and the American Anthropological Association  200 American Mommies kill their children every damn year.  Heck, in 1983 600 American children will murdered by their parents [Kaye, Neil; Neal M. Borenstein and Susan Donnelly (1990). "Families, murder, and insanity: a psychiatric review of paternal neonaticide". Journal of Forensic Sciences 35: 134.]

Why is it we are only hearing (or mostly hearing only) about autistic children being murdered?

Because it is more titilating to read.  Partly because as parents of autistic children (or persons whom are autistic) we also have the word 'autism' flagged in google news. 

Use your head KimS of AoA.  It ain't about autism.  It is about mental health of the parents.  It is about evil.  But it sure as hell is not the child's fault, nor the government's fault.

Not saying, either, that I don't believe that ALL parents need more help than what is readily available.  I am sure that we all have had moments when some respite care would have been more than welcome.

But as adults who are responsible for our children it is OUR job to be aware of our own mental health.  It is our job to reach out for help when we need it.  To make sure that we are looking after our selves in order to be the best damn parent we can be.

Shame on Age of Assholes for implying (and at times outright saying) that the autistic child causes their parent to murder them.  For saying that raising an autistic child is so bloody damn difficult that murder/suicide is a serious consideration.

For Shame...

Every Child has the Right TO be LOVED-special needs included.

Children have rights.  There are 54 articles (I'm only posting two for examples) listed in the 'summary of the rights under the convention on the Rights of the Child'.  These are WORLD rights.
Those rights superseed their parent's rights to 'freedom of speech' and all other rights to enjoy themselves.  Those rights apply regardless of location, race, disablity, religion and so forth.

Article 2 (Non-discrimination): The Convention applies to all children, whatever their race, religion or abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. It doesn’t matter where children live, what language they speak, what their parents do, whether they are boys or girls, what their culture is, whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis.

A child's best interests must be considered as teh PRIMARY concern when making descisions that affect them.

Article 3 (Best interests of the child): The best interests of children must be the primary concern in making decisions that may affect them. All adults should do what is best for children. When adults make decisions, they should think about how their decisions will affect children. This particularly applies to budget, policy and law makers

Children have the right to live without abuse.  The right to be safe and cared for.
According the the Justice Centre in Canada emotional abuse is "harming a child's sense of self"
I wonder if letting a child know that you think they would be better off dead is considered abuse? (sarcasm).

Now that we know what rights children have, and what constitutes abuse let us look at all these parents that moan and groan about raising their autistic child, those parents that condone murdering a child because that child is autistic... For those parents I have a message.


To all the mommy's (and daddy's) out there that are struggling to raise an autistic child, living the horror that is autism, desperate, would rather their child have cancer, vaccine injured, living a tragedy, overwhelmed or whatever other excuse you feel you may have to harm your child:

Call Child protective services.  Give your child to the Ministry of Children.  Heck! you can advertise on Craigslist. (This is not a serious suggestion-do not sell your child.)

There are millions of people out there that will take your c hild. They will love your child.  Provide your child with everything he/she needs to meet their potential in a home where they are accepted and loved, encouraged and supported.

You really think someone else can't love your child? That your child is too much, too sick, to injured for me to be able to compare my child to?

FUCK YOU.
Each and every last one of you that compares your child to AIDS, the Houlocaust, Cancer should hang your head in SHAME.

If you truly, really feel that your child is so damaged, so sick, so unworthy of being loved the way they are you should hand that child over to the applicable government agency that WILL find a family that will NOT feel that way. 

It is every child's right to be loved and accepted, supported and nurtured.  I don't care if your child has every disability known to mankind-you still do not have the right to choose to abuse or murder your child.

Is it hard to parent a child with special needs? Yup, you bet.  Do parents sometimes feel overwhelmed? Of course!  Does that justify harming your child? Absolutely not. 

Dealing with the pain and frustration that comes with parenting is part of being an adult.  And loving parents that know they are not coping get help.  Real adults let someone else care for their child if they cannot.  Period.