In South West London, a mother of four was arrested after three of her children’s dead bodies were found in their home. The children, four-year-old Olivia and three-year-old twins Max and Ben, all suffered from a rare condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the wasting and weakness of muscles. The family lived in a £2 million Victorian, which was renovated to fit the needs of their three youngest children.
As disturbing as it is to think about a mother murdering her own child, over the last decade we have been exposed to many cases similar to this. In 2007, the nation was horrified after the case of Baby P was revealed. Peter Connelly was born in North London where he suffered severe physical abuse that resulted in his death from his mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend, Steven Baker, and Baker’s brother Jason Owen. The same child authorities that handled the Baby P case failed to save Victoria Climbie, an eight-year-old girl who suffered abuse from her great Aunt.
As a nation, every time we hear about child abuse we are disgusted, yet no one is doing anything to prevent it. People only speak up when it’s too late. Before the blame is put on the authorities, we need to consider the parents in these cases. Why bring a child into this world if you aren’t willing to take care of them? Does this argument justify sterilizing women who aren’t fit mothers? Inconsiderate mothers, such as Rosemary West and Mairead Philpott are examples of women who don’t deserve to have as many kids as they do because they extinguish lives in a heartless and barbaric way. Yet the main question still remains unanswered: as a nation, what can we do to save these innocent lives from suffering and what can we do to stop such insensitive mothers from hurting their children?
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