Another Homeschooled Child Died

[theologygeek]

He died from pneumonia, but all the children were malnourished. And both parents worked too. http://www.wfsb.com/story/25597901/pare ... onia-death

[peacelovecoffee]

They homeschool and both work? Yeah, nothing fishy about that.

[theologygeek]

I guess the mother worked the second shift. She probably slept in the day. I read another article where the neighbor said that the mother looked down on people who didn't homeschool. Can't find anything that says if they were fundies.

[Mama Mia]

Second shift is usually 3-11 or 4 -12 ish. Third shift or Graveyard is the one in the middle of the night where you are likely to sleep during the day. Working different shifts is actually the most common way of handling daycare for working parents. Don't recall the source for that info, but know at least a few years ago that was the case.

[Unschool Apostate]

That's awful. I hope the remaining children are being treated and fed well and finding out what it means to have adults actively promote your physical health and survival.

My mother wanted to keep homeschooling my elementary-school-aged sister when she went back to work full-time. I was worried about it at the time and it seems even more nuts to me now, but I think it must have seemed reasonable to her since sending children to school requires that someone be actively involved in their care at reliable times on a day-to-day basis, and is consequently a lot of work.

It's hard for me to get into that headspace. I mean, how do you look at a kid and not think "this kid needs lots of interactions and also food, so that they can grow up into a normal adult"? And what kind of headspace do you need to be in for you and your partner to hide *seven children* from your neighbors? At least people knew we existed.

[FundieWatcher]

And then they aren't even charged with murder or manslaughter. And they aren't charged with abuse of the other kids. Total failure of the system to protect the kids.

[Howl]

This is what caught my eye:

The couple faced a judge Friday morning after the investigation of their 14-year-old Justin's death. An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's office said the 14-year-old was diagnosed with pneumonia, malnutrition and a subdural hemorrhage.

Can a subdural hemorrhage occur spontaneously or is it more likely from a blow to the head?

At least these kids have been removed from the hell that has been their life up to this point.

[polecat]

This is what caught my eye:

Can a subdural hemorrhage occur spontaneously or is it more likely from a blow to the head?

At least these kids have been removed from the hell that has been their life up to this point.

It did say that he fainted, didn't it? He might have cracked his head on something on the way down. Poor kid, I hope he wasn't beaten on top of everything else he went through.

[mockingbird]

This is what caught my eye:

Can a subdural hemorrhage occur spontaneously or is it more likely from a blow to the head?

At least these kids have been removed from the hell that has been their life up to this point.

I'm not sure if they can happen spontaneously (I'm sure they probably could if you had a bleeding disorder or something like that) but I think they are USUALLY caused by trauma. It's the classic head injury in shaken baby syndrome :? (Also, totally unrelated, I think it's what Natasha Richardson died from?)

Subarachnoid is the one that happens with ruptured aneurysms.

[chaotic life]

Someone with a severe bleeding disorder can in fact have a spontaneous bleed of this variety. However, someone with a bleeding disorder that severe would not make it to 14 without it being discovered and treated. The other way you get a bleed like this is a head injury. If he fainted and hit his head on something it's possible he could have gotten the brain bleed from hitting his head in a fall. Or, he could have fallen and appeared to faint because he had bleeding going on in his brain, which can go on for awhile after the initial injury before showing symptoms.

[Chowder Head]

The article says they have seven kids and no one knew about them. Am I missing it in the article about what has happened to the children?

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Well the youngest was 14 so I imagine some of them must have already left home.

I thought the mom looked a bit old in her picture-- she is 59 which means she was 45 when the youngest was born. 59 and she is working and homeschooling. No wonder she looked tired in her picture. I would really like to know more about the whole family. Are they religious or just paranoid? Did they homeschool to keep the kids away from bad influences or did they homeschool because they were abusing the kids and didn't want anyone to find out?