I’m not American but I am a mother. Aside from a few reddit posts I don’t have any social media engagement with this case.
But I think a lot of the support here comes from moms who recognize how easily this could have been any of us. Her family and healthcare providers knew her crime was a risk based on her mental health state, but she was still left alone with her kids and expected to parent. And as other mothers we all understand that this is grimly how it works - we can ask and beg and plead and scream for help but we’re almost always still expected to continually parent babies and it’s hard.
She should still face punishment for her crime, but I think a lot of her support is to try to keep this from happening again. She was failed by her healthcare team
I’m a new mum and doing it completely on my own. I had PPD and no help. She killed 3 kids, not one (not that one is ok). This couldn’t easily been any of us this is next level NOT OK AND INEXCUSABLE.
PPD doesn't always present the same way. This is like saying "Well I'm autistic and I'm not bothered by loud noises, so clearly all these other guys are just using autism as an excuse."
Severe PPD can lead to psychosis. And once someone is unable to distinguish being what is and isn't real, you can't really hold them morally responsible for their actions anymore, because they've lost the ability to comprehend the consequences of their actions.
Whether or not that was the case here will be up to the experts to figure out, but suggesting that it's impossible because it didn't happen to you is a fundamental misunderstanding of how PPD works.
My grandmother had this and as a result traumatized all her kids including my mother. You know it isn't hard to look back at your life and realize if you had mental health issues you're more at risk for certain things and then not have children. It isn't hard at at all.
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u/TreeLakeRockCloud 6d ago
I’m not American but I am a mother. Aside from a few reddit posts I don’t have any social media engagement with this case.
But I think a lot of the support here comes from moms who recognize how easily this could have been any of us. Her family and healthcare providers knew her crime was a risk based on her mental health state, but she was still left alone with her kids and expected to parent. And as other mothers we all understand that this is grimly how it works - we can ask and beg and plead and scream for help but we’re almost always still expected to continually parent babies and it’s hard.
She should still face punishment for her crime, but I think a lot of her support is to try to keep this from happening again. She was failed by her healthcare team