April R. King, 35, is facing a particularly bad criminal case after a police body cam video by Apopka police allegedly showed her using her 4-year-old son to blow into an in-vehicle Breathalyzer so it would start. She is accused of leaving her kids in the car to drink at a bar.
Police say that they were called to a running vehicle outside of a Froggers Grill and Bar with kids in the car. The kids were in the car for about 20 minutes. That might be somehow explained (though the running car is particularly dangerous) but employees said that she left the bar and drove around in the parking lot before going to a business next door to the bar. When police arrived, they say that she was outside of her vehicle and had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol and seemed unsteady. She denied going to the bar or leaving her children. As the police were looking into the matter, the boy went to the front seat and blew on the Breathalyzer.
Her husband not surprisingly revealed that his wife has a serious drinking problem. She was charged with child neglect and taken to the Orange County Jail on a $1,500 bond.
The husband was not in town during the incident and the children were released into the care of a babysitter.
These are unbelievably sad cases. Many of us have known people with alcohol dependency and it takes a terrible toll on these people and their families. The question is how to handle such cases without shattering a family. It should be clear that she cannot have supervision of the children, but the question is what other restrictions must be placed beyond mandatory treatment. It seems likely that a jail stint will be ordered.
How do you think such cases should be handled? Is jail really warranted with such an addiction and, if so, how long is appropriate in such a case.
And Olly, I don’t think your rude and condescending manner helps you prove your point. Now go take a nap yourself.
Oh you compassionate lefty. Your compassion extends up to (sometimes beyond) birth where you can help terminate life and once the child escapes your grasp then toss it over to the compassionate conservatives to care for them. By the way, we will every time. Thanks!
What a great legacy for you. I think Hansel and Gretal may have known your ancestor.
You ignorantly ignore the fact that if women who are unfit to become mothers because of substance abuse were on birth control we wouldn’t see as many of these sad situations. Birth control is preventative, not every sperm is scared, Olly. There are cases in which people become addicted after a good start ( “life going sideways” ), but there also far more cases in which women who are clearly unfit to be a parent are getting pregnant and introducing yet more children into the unstable mix.
“This thread isn’t about abortion.”
It wasn’t until you injected your bias towards parents using PP to not bring unwanted children into this world in the first place. What you ignorantly fail to realize is many of these troubled parents choose life and THEN their world goes sideways. Go take your nap and let the adults finish discussing the real world where troubled people need help; not some finger-wagging PP advocate saying “I told ya so”.
There should be absolutely NO shortage of good foster homes. Right to Lifers would serve ther cause well by becoming foster parents. Put their beliefs where their mouths are. How many thousands upon thousands of Americans are Pro Life? Now tell me WHY there is a shortage of foster parents?
Olly, I suggest you leave the mind reading to others.
I am in favor of a 20 week ban on abortion with exemptions for rape and incest. Now go peddle your propaganda directed at someone else, Pogo. Your comments are unfunny, repetitive and obsessive. This thread isn’t about abortion. It’s about an alcoholic mother who should not have custody of these children she was blessed with.
That’s correct Chief, it just galls her to admit conservative Christians will actually be foster parents, adoptive parents and active supporters of pregnancy resource centers. Our local PRC is thriving due to charitable contributions and time from the local churches.
“Somehow the do gooders and right to lifers fall down on their faces in this respect.”
This thread is a testament to how false that statement is. 🙂 Your fundi-PTSD is flaring up Inga/Annie.
As for what to do about children already born and living in an abusive situation:
Can’t we do post-birth abortion?
I mean, some Foster families are abusive.
And some days it’s hot out.
“It would be great if the religious right cared a bit more about children already born and living in an abusive situation.”
Wonderful retort!
Assumes facts not in evidence, but that’s the way to play it, Inga. Well done.
The world is full of suffering and them tighty Badwhiteys can’t fix it (or won’t, the b*stards), so it’s better to abort kids -I mean- prophylax their birth.
Pogo, I guess you didn’t read closely. I didn’t mention abortion at all. I spoke about birth control . It would be great if the religious right cared a bit more about children already born and living in an abusive situation. Somehow the do gooders and right to lifers fall down on their faces in this respect.
Believer,
The foster to adopt program is a blessing to the child and the adopting family It’s great your daughter went through that process. I hope you are aware that foster parents come in both genders (assuming of course that is still an acceptable thing to say).
Darren
I agree that sometimes individuals are hit too hard and there is not enough ‘understanding’ initially. However, the husband stated that his wife has a serious drinking problem, she left the kids in the car, car running, to get drunk in a bar, she connived to beat the ignition control system by having her 4 yr. old do the breathalyzer. This illustrates an accommodation for alcohol that places her children well behind her desire to get drunk. Perhaps the tougher charge is necessary with an easing off based on her performance. From my perspective, and like others here I have been there and done some of that, she needs a stiff hit right off the mark to see if this is her bottom. Anything less tends to allow an interpretation, explanation, excuse, etc.
Yeah Chief, given the fact PP is sooo pro-choice and that whole movement has “devolved” to accept post-birth abortions, it would be a fantastic option for those birth parents that developed behaviors that make parenting such a drag. I’d be curious to know what the limiting age would be; 4 or 5 years old?
She is definitely an unfit parent and her emphasis is on herself, not her child. In such a case, taking the kid away until she can prove she has been sober and WANTS to stay that way would be the right thing to do. That mother needs help and is a danger to her kids.
However, being a grandmother of a child adopted out of the foster care system brought to my daughter at 6 weeks & finally was able to adopt at age two, it is a miracle we got one. I can tell you for sure that some states will allow foster parents to care for as many as 6 children as well as their own children. The motivation lack of enough foster moms and for some it is the money they get from the govt. Some kids can be moved from one house to another as much as 6 times or more depending on the children’s unruliness. Some go to a home one day and two days later get picked up on the curb by the govt. employee taking them back into the system. Also, there are events for the kids sponsored by the system and the older kids teach the little kids that they really don’t have to obey the parent as they can only put them in the corner for 5 minutes or give them time out. The little kids learn all kinds of tricks. They learn the art of palming from the older ones, which was a shock for me when I caught one little guy trying to steal something right in front of me. He was quick but I was quicker. He actually had a trade, ha ha
There is really not much way to control some of them. Time outs are a farce. Believe me when I helped my daughter keep 2 siblings, 6 & 7 yrs of age, they would steal, lie for each other, you name it. They worked in tandem to do things they were not allowed to do. I was told by the kids, ” I don’t have to do what you tell me to because you can’t touch me”. They were right, they know you do not have any way to control of them. YES, Many foster mothers are saints but there are some who really should not be keeping kids. The foster system makes it almost impossible for parents to want to help the kids what you get is parents who want to adopt, or others who see it as a way to exist and pay the bills. Few will put up with the many rules and Regs. the system places on the foster parents and the numerous inspections of the homes. etc., which not really scheduled with the parent in advance . Any visits they make, you have to reschedule even doctors appointments etc. As I said, some foster parents are saints. They jump through hoops for the system that is unreal. No normal home has to undergo the long arm of the government, pitting the kids against the parent who keeps them. Frankly the system needs a badly needed re haul. Once a kid is in the system for more than a short time, they have already learned too many bad habits to take advantage of the foster parent, and can be a problem for parents that clean up their act and are lucky enoughto get them back.
My experience and opinion of the foster care system. ANOTHER GOVERNMENTAL BUREAUCRACY THAT NEEDS A THOROUGH HOUSE CLEANING.
If they teach the 4-year-old son to take a swig of Johnnie Walker, he won’t be able to help her start the car.
And I am intrigued by Inga’s solution that it’s better for children to be crunched in utero than to be alive with a drunk Mom.
Indeed, all women should abort, given that they might get sick or become depressed or get drunk or behave badly. That way the potential human never has to suffer from Mom’s real life issues, except for the few seconds it takes to stop their beating fetal heart.
Olly: It sounds like you and your family are a blessing to that little girl and your son. I hope she gets a happy ending and doesn’t get stuck in that vicious cycle you described. My older brother is adopted, and he is a blessing in our family, a truly wonderful person.
Natacha – the poor girl. That’s a really tough situation, when someone is hurting themselves and others but is in denial about needing therapy.
Paul: yes, her father is an alcoholic and has similar personality traits–denial, blame-shifting. She won’t go to therapy– says she doesn’t need it. She denies anything sexual happened, even though she was naked when found and developed severe agoraphobia. Her story is tragic, but she is very smart and talented and could have a bright future. My friend discovered that bailing her out of jail, paying her bills and taking care of the kids just freed her up to get and stay drunk more. She’s trying tough love, but as Senator McGovern pointed out in his book, sometimes this isn’t the right thing to do either because some people are too fragile emotionally and can’t survive without the support of loved ones. He and the rest of the family broke off with Terry, his daughter, and 6 months later she was found frozen to death in a snow bank, with a BAC 3 times the legal limit. He was haunted for the rest of his life over the decision to cut her off to try to force sobriety.
Natacha – then they should push for court-ordered therapy the next time she screws up. She has a lot of anger in her and if she is alcoholic, it is not helping.
“The first step is to not get Child Protective Services involved.”
Darren,
Certainly not in Massachusetts.
Karen,
They have different placement strategies beginning with emergency placement. A child might be placed with a foster parent that only has the child 1 day while they try to find a longer term placement foster family.
The facility that had our 10 month old asked us to let them know if we could get her to smile. It took her about two days before her first smile and now she has completely settled in smiling, laughing, trying to walk, saying her first words and so on. She is an absolute blessing to the world and hopefully her birth mother gets it together to appreciate this beautiful little girl.
Our 7 year old son came to us through the foster system when he was 1.5 years old. His birth parents were not together and the Mom wanted us to adopt him right away and the father did not. It wasn’t until the father saw the amount of work he would need to do to get his son back that he decided to waive his parental rights. I look at my son every day and see this thriving boy that blessed us and all who have come to know him. Unplanned parenthood is a great thing!