stolen from MM - Tragic life in photos

[Melissa W.]

Those photos have been haunting me all morning.

[ttt]

Jesus. That poor child never had a chance from the moment he was conceived.

[summer]

This has ruined me. That poor kid. Jesus, that is awful.

[copzgirl1171]

I feel like such a damn whiner now.

This poor, poor child.

[aw]

:-(

[One Girl In All The World]

Jesus. I should know better than to ever click on things like this. I feel ill.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

In 70% of those pictures that kid is either holding coffee or soda. The giant 2 liter of Mt. Dew he's holding as a toddler while looking out the window makes me want to die.

[ttt]

Aug 13, 2012 14:03:43 GMT -5 Daria Morgandorffer said:

In 70% of those pictures that kid is either holding coffee or soda. The giant 2 liter of Mt. Dew he's holding as a toddler while looking out the window makes me want to die.

To me, it's the fact that he's been playing 'Call of Duty' since he was 2 years old.

He'll end up knocking up some equally sad, damaged girl at 14 or 15 and he'll probably be in prison when that baby is born too. And the whole cycle will start over again.

[copzgirl1171]

It's the filth that bothers me but I am an admitted OCD.

I just feel like they could all deal with everything so much easier if there wasn't clutter and filth every where.

I mean after the fact that it appears this poor little boy has never gotten a fair shake.

[ttt]

What's so sad to me is, how can you even stop this? How do you break this cycle when this child is already irreparably damaged by the age of 6?

[Deleted]

Like I said over there, this is really similar to my nephew's life before my parents (he came to live with them when he was 4.) My sister had a nicer house than that and it was always spotless, and part of her issue was her obsession with material things (so she had Versace, Gucci, etc type of clothes, drove a Land Rover, and so on, but eventually declared bankruptcy...) so the pictures would look different, but yeah, he was a 4 year old who had McD's every morning, mountain dew every day, twizzlers on a regular basis (the Twizzlers and mountain dew started around a year old), etc. He was allowed to watch as much tv as he wanted and play whatever video games he wanted because it was just............easier. It wasn't really surprising that he had serious behavioral issues (that were harder to spot when he was younger, although his developmental delays were clear) and that he just never learned how to "behave," which sounds like such a mild way to put it. Anyway, absent his developmental delays his school history is a lot like Donny's - suspensions, special programs, etc. It's absolutely devastating to watch him grow up (he's 13 now) and now that he will never be normal and to not know how much of that is organic and how much of that is because of his early childhood. Those pictures hit home in a bad way for me.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Actually, there's really not much about this that doesn't bother me incredibly. Holy shit.

[copzgirl1171]

Aug 13, 2012 14:11:07 GMT -5 @mrsbecky07 said:

Like I said over there, this is really similar to my nephew's life before my parents (he came to live with them when he was 4.) My sister had a nicer house than that and it was always spotless, and part of her issue was her obsession with material things (so she had Versace, Gucci, etc type of clothes, drove a Land Rover, and so on, but eventually declared bankruptcy...) so the pictures would look different, but yeah, he was a 4 year old who had McD's every morning, mountain dew every day, twizzlers on a regular basis (the Twizzlers and mountain dew started around a year old), etc. He was allowed to watch as much tv as he wanted and play whatever video games he wanted because it was just............easier. It wasn't really surprising that he had serious behavioral issues (that were harder to spot when he was younger, although his developmental delays were clear) and that he just never learned how to "behave," which sounds like such a mild way to put it. Anyway, absent his developmental delays his school history is a lot like Donny's - suspensions, special programs, etc. It's absolutely devastating to watch him grow up (he's 13 now) and now that he will never be normal and to not know how much of that is organic and how much of that is because of his early childhood. Those pictures hit home in a bad way for me.

Oh, Becky *hugs*

[summer]

There is no guidance anywhere here. All these kids are just so lonely. Even the parents, because they are just kids, too. His mom was 14!!! She was a child! It's all so heartbreaking.

And the coffee in the bottle? I can't even.

There are so so so many interventions needed here. There is no way there are enough social services to meet their needs in Troy of all places.

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Is he groping that girl? God, they might just beat his mother and father to early parenthood.

[One Girl In All The World]

Aug 13, 2012 14:11:07 GMT -5 @mrsbecky07 said:

Like I said over there, this is really similar to my nephew's life before my parents (he came to live with them when he was 4.) My sister had a nicer house than that and it was always spotless, and part of her issue was her obsession with material things (so she had Versace, Gucci, etc type of clothes, drove a Land Rover, and so on, but eventually declared bankruptcy...) so the pictures would look different, but yeah, he was a 4 year old who had McD's every morning, mountain dew every day, twizzlers on a regular basis (the Twizzlers and mountain dew started around a year old), etc. He was allowed to watch as much tv as he wanted and play whatever video games he wanted because it was just............easier. It wasn't really surprising that he had serious behavioral issues (that were harder to spot when he was younger, although his developmental delays were clear) and that he just never learned how to "behave," which sounds like such a mild way to put it. Anyway, absent his developmental delays his school history is a lot like Donny's - suspensions, special programs, etc. It's absolutely devastating to watch him grow up (he's 13 now) and now that he will never be normal and to not know how much of that is organic and how much of that is because of his early childhood. Those pictures hit home in a bad way for me.

:-(

[aw]

Apart from the diet and life in front of a TV, the picture of the kid in the poppy diaper that has "I pooped" written on it made me want to cry, because you know that the baby spent the majority of it's infancy sitting in it's own poop.

So, was this a professional photographer that took these pictures? Is there any record that the photographer contacted CPS or anyone to help this child? I was scared to read the article that went with the slideshow.

[marynjoe]

Damn that's sad.

[ttt]

Aug 13, 2012 14:33:01 GMT -5 aw said:

Apart from the diet and life in front of a TV, the picture of the kid in the poppy diaper that has "I pooped" written on it made me want to cry, because you know that the baby spent the majority of it's infancy sitting in it's own poop.

So, was this a professional photographer that took these pictures? Is there any record that the photographer contacted CPS or anyone to help this child? I was scared to read the article that went with the slideshow.

It was a professional photographer. If you read the accompanying article, you'll see that social services is well aware of this child.

Unfortunately, it's not against the law to let your toddler drink Mountain Dew and play Call of Duty while in a dirty diaper.

[Deleted]

Troy has a few nice neighborhoods but wow this is depressing to see.

[summer]

I mean......God. C'mon! *sigh* I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I know better.

[Melissa W.]

www.upstategirls.org/photoalbum.html

This is the photographer's website.

[livinitup]

Someone asked how do you stop this if the damage is already done by age 6. So, I have to respond - with programs like Even Start that bring Certified Parent Educators into the home. But sadly, after 16 years, Congress cut that program in all 50 states last year. To, you know, save money.

Because intensive special Ed programs and prison aren't really really expensive.

[marie427]

I don't know why this is one of the first threads I chose to read today after a busy day.

Kids like this need intensive, individual attention and education. The problem is, he's not the only kid like that and we've got to pay more and more of these teachers for whom trying to educate one child with serious special needs is a full-time job in and of itself. But we can't afford it. Even if a town/city has a healthy education budget, paying for as many full-time teachers as needed to educate one child with behavioral issues each is downright unaffordable. But it then becomes a quality-of-life issue for everyone in the community if there's no intervention early on. Because this kid will know nothing else except 14-year-old mothers and other unimaginable things, the cycle will just continue.

And I also doubt that his mother didn't know how babies were made. We can't stop people who really aren't in a place to become a parent to not become a parent.

[WOT?*]

Aug 13, 2012 15:32:44 GMT -5 marie427 said:

And I also doubt that his mother didn't know how babies were made. We can't stop people who really aren't in a place to become a parent to not become a parent.

Especially since he has an uncle that's only two years older than he is.

[eddy]

Aug 13, 2012 14:56:36 GMT -5 summer said:

I mean......God. C'mon! *sigh* I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I know better.

This is the picture that is haunting me. As a mom I didnt think it was biologically possible to get it on while you baby screams. This is an example of how fucked up his
Iife is.

Also every single person is dead in the eyes. No joy or life in them

[summer]

Aug 13, 2012 15:58:09 GMT -5 eddy said:

Aug 13, 2012 14:56:36 GMT -5 summer said:

I mean......God. C'mon! *sigh* I wish I hadn't opened this thread. I know better.

This is the picture that is haunting me. As a mom I didnt think it was biologically possible to get it on while you baby screams. This is an example of how fucked up his
Iife is.

Also every single person is dead in the eyes. No joy or life in them

Man, get right out of my head.

[heightsyankee]

My thoughts exactly, Bunny. I grew up not far from Troy. The best part about my community is that it is small and a lot of extended families that help, but the same shit is going on here. And, yes, it's all about poverty and feeling totally disenfranchised.

Today, my heroin addicted half sister is in jail. I spent the day with her kids. Her daughter, who is 6, is so much more neurotic and vacant than she was this time last summer. I can see the situation with her mother wearing on her. As fucked up as this may sound, all I can hope is that my father's health starts to fail and he can no longer take care of the kids and they get sent to live with me. I am willing to take them now and start the work to repair them from the last few years but he won't relinquish. That would mean yet another failure for him and, no matter how much I dislike him, I know he is a mess about my sister... But, yeah, I'm intervening as much as I can before the cycle continues.

[basilosaurus]

I assumed the dead eyes were because the kid is medicated. What do you think he's on?

[ttt]

Aug 13, 2012 16:02:01 GMT -5 @bunnybean said:

I can't handle this thread because it makes me blind with rage.

It's not happening here, but it pisses me the fuck off that people will blame his mother and say she's an unfit mother, when she's just repeating the cycle of her own life. Look at her mother. She's probably 38 and looks like a crackwhore (like Catelynn's mom on Teen Mom).

People will talk about CPS and intervention programs, etc., when really this is POVERTY. It is only ever poverty. It's easy to blame someone and take this kid away, when 10 more will replace him because all this is is poverty.

.82% in taxes for someone like Mitt Romney makes me want to grab a fucking pitchfork. That is evil. That is plain, fucking EVIL.

Well she *is* an unfit mother. It was probably circumstances mostly beyond her control that made her so but it doesn't change the fact that she is a terrible mother and has f'ed up her child by her inability to raise him halfway decently.