I watched that entire show in the weeks leading up to the birth of my first child. CRIED LIKE A BABY every goddamn episode. My husband couldn’t take it. I miss the Bravermans so much!

Her disability makes her more easily tricked and misled, and low quality men prey on that.

Sorry, I wasn’t arguing with you, I was ranting at CPS using that as their justification. It’s ridiculous. It does sound like there were other reasons they maybe should have taken the kid away (like the fact that she lives with her parents and maybe *they* aren’t safe to be around the kid) but I don’t get why they…

Team No One is basically the perfect summary of the NY Mag article.

This is something I worry about for my own youngest daughter. She’s functional, but not very. She’s still young, but I worry about when she gets older for this very reason. As she is now, I don’t think she would be able to raise a child. I’ve thought about birth control options for when she gets older. I’ve also…

And then when your case makes the news, you’re not allowed to give take your side public. Had one women all up and down the local paper and online because I removed her children because she “left them alone for five minutes” while she went to the store. No, I took them because you left them alone for over 2 hours and…

Yeah, I am in an ethical conundrum. On one hand, if this woman weren’t classified as disabled and couldn’t care for her child in these very, very basic ways, I don’t think anyone would question the DCF’s removing the baby from the home. But I just don’t know. I just don’t think a newborn should be used as a learning…

I hear you. My brother is borderline and semi independent with a lot of family and agency support. He’s higher functioning than Sara sounds from the article (can follow directions, take the bus, handle money) and in no way equipped to raise a child. People with family members in this situation probably see this as a…

I suspect it had a lot to do with the grandparent’s own DCF history. It’s very true that one report can haunt you for a long time but it appears that they had a recurrent history with DCF reporting that didn’t result in the birth mother being removed from the household as a child (and maybe she was but there’s no…

Well yeah, my girl is not competent to consent. But I don’t think that would preclude her from getting pregnant :(

I had a student who is very low mentally but not physically. I don’t think she can consent to any type of sexual relationship. Having a baby would be out of the question for her.

My sister’s IQ is about 65. She’s very high functioning in some areas, very low in others. She does well enough to live on her own, but just barely. She forgets to take medication, struggles with simple cooking directions, etc. She actually conceived several times but miscarried. I do not believe that her body was…

I think it’s okay to offend adults when children are involved. No child deserves to be treated like a learning experience for an adult who isn’t competent.

This is really timely for me. Right now, I have a student whose IQ is similarly low, who is minimally literate (she can read early reader books, but definitely not a newspaper), and really struggles with basic problem-solving skills. She is obsessed with having babies and being a mom. She talks about her future…

It was more than that she missed a feeding and had trouble with the diaper:

Unpopular opinion: I think calling child services was the right choice. I have a relative with a similar IQ who was the single parent of his daughter, and she turned out alive...but not great. She did not have the kind of advocate a child with a typically-abled parent would. Kids need more than to be fed, clothed, and…

My cousin was deprived of oxygen at birth and as a result has severe intellectual dificulties (cannot read or write). He got his also similarly affected teenage girlfriend pregnant. The baby was removed from their care at birth. I don't have a doubt in my mind that this was the right decision. They were lucky that her…

I can’t say I disagree with DCF’s original assessment. Read the linked article: as a child, Sara was removed from her parents’ home because her father was violent and may have sexually abused her. Sending a new baby girl into that home without a second thought would be horribly short-sighted. Additionally, reading…

Is this... a good thing? I remember a terrible Sean Penn movie called “I am Sam,” which involved a mentally disabled father’s efforts to regain custody of his elementary school-aged child. While we were obviously meant to sympathize with Penn’s character, the movie— like this article— never addressed whether reuniting…

I feel bad for DCF; they are always second-guessed by everyone. “Why did you take the kids away?” “Why didn’t you take the kids away?” They can’t win. In this case while it’s possible that they and the judge made the wrong decision it definitely sounds like a close call to me. The DCF SHOULD intervene with a woman…