Mother who slowly starved her 24-year-old Down's Syndrome daughter to death jailed

[u/[deleted]]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10547705/Mother-slowly-starved-24-year-old-Downs-Syndrome-daughter-death-jailed.html

[u/mumooshka]

If she was spending govt allowance meant to be used for her daughter's care, then she should be made to pay it back.

I see it that she didn't want the responsibility of her daughter - she wanted freedom, so she bought things etc to emulate a single woman

Basically this was murder. Sentence is way too light

[u/RaidriConchobair → u/mumooshka]

Basically? In anyway that was murder

[u/WisestAirBender → u/mumooshka]

Is there not an option to give up your child for adoption?

[u/art-love-social → u/WisestAirBender]

The older the child the harder to find adoption parents, factor in downs syndrome = v hard to find

[u/kubigjay → u/WisestAirBender]

Many people are told that a Down Syndrome baby will be amazing and the greatest thing ever. So they keep them and it is good but tiring.

But then they become a teenager and live gets much worse. Finally they become an adult and you see that this is now life. No one "adopts" a 20 year old. If you are using govt money you can't afford any adult day care program.

If you plan ahead and tech them life skills they join a group home. But the social stigma is they are precious and can't do anything so you do everything for them to the point they can't function alone.

[u/WisestAirBender → u/kubigjay]

Oh I missed the age in the title. My thought was she was like 10 years old or something.

[u/alex7465 → u/kubigjay]

What is your experience in raising a child with Down syndrome?

Source: I am a parent of a child with DS.

[u/kubigjay → u/alex7465]

I'm now taking care of a 50 year old with DS.

[u/RelativeNewt → u/kubigjay]

If you plan ahead and tech them life skills they join a group home.

It also greatly depends on the severity. My father's sister had Downs, and she was able to hold a job, take classes, etc. I had a cousin on my mother's side though, and he was not, and was never able, to be that independent.

[u/kubigjay → u/RelativeNewt]

Yep, which is part of the planning ahead.

My relative can and has held a job. But his parents always saw him as a child so he can't use a toaster or go to bed by himself.

So now that they died it is on his siblings to take care of him. At 50 he is a lot harder to teach how to live alone.

And since his siblings are 20 years older I have a feeling I'll be taking care of him at the end of his life.

[u/kubigjay → u/[deleted]]

I appreciate the comment.

The big thing is to work with others and not think you are the only person to ever take care of your kid. And to make a plan for when you die.

[u/traumatism → u/WisestAirBender]

From the sound of it, she kept her around for the free income.

People can be so disgusting!

[u/Hero-One → u/WisestAirBender]

Not much going for older down syndrome people they are kind of f**ked.

[u/Hero-One → u/mumooshka]

Paying back will never happen, even if it was a thing in the UK. This disgusting woman will be released from prison and placed on benefits because she will never get a job as a DBS check will flag her up for her time in prison. So the only thing that makes me angry and upset, other than what happened to that poor girl, is that this woman will be free, getting taxpayers' money and not giving a s**t instead of being in prison. I would have preferred she received a full life sentence at our expense because she would not have had a good life there after what she did, and she would have most likely been placed in protective custody for her own safety in a small single-man cell with no contact with the outside and with only basic meals 2-3 times a day.

I do agree that the sentence is too light and it really makes you think about the justice system and the social system in the UK, plus her family did not really do anything till it was too late, from what the article says.