Baby drowned in toilet, in trash dump

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

As some of you know, there was a recent event in the Seattle Tacoma area where an 16 year old girl drowned her new born baby boy in the toilet and then her father helped her dispose of the baby in the trash. The trash went to the dump where the baby boys body was finally located.

There have been a lot of comments on the internet regarding this situation, almost all blaming this 16 year old girl (who by the way they are planning to try as an adult for murder. She is being held on $500,000 bond). Her father is being held on $10,000 bond for his part in helping her dispose of the body. She was living in the home with her father where several other adult males were living along with some other teen boys. There appeared to be no other females living in the home. When the police when to the home they found meth and a stash of weapons.

As a former ER nurse I strongly suspect that this young girl has been subjected to childhood sexual abuse and I would almost guarantee you that it came from the men in that home. I would not be surprised to learn that she was being sold into prostitution or used for making Media. I have seen this before in the ER. They are currently testing DNA to determine who the father of this child is.

I feel that as nurses we need to make our voices heard on this subject and support having this girl being given counseling while in jail. I also hope that she will have a good attorney step up to represent her. Someone who will totally have her best interest at heart. I feel that this young woman should not be tried in the media until all the facts are known. I am very concerned that she is not going to get the help that she needs. Of course it is horrible for a mother to do such a thing to a baby, but I guarantee you that what we are hearing now is not the entire story. I hope that all of you will keep on top of this story with me and lets see if there is anything we can do to encourage the courts to act in a fair manner with this young woman.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, psych, rehab.

I had not heard the story. I live in Tennessee, so maybe it wasn't on the news here. (I'm considering moving to Washington, which is why I was looking at notes posted for your state). I'm with you. I keep thinking about the poor girl and how scared she must have been. Are they certain the baby was alive at birth? And certain that she purposely drowned it? Even so, if she was being mistreated, this could fall under the catagory of PTSD.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

This is one of the reasons why I am such huge advocate of the safe haven laws.

I don't know if Washington has one or not.

To me, if a girl has the forethought and time to drown a baby and then take it to another location to be dumped...then I don't see why they couldn't take it to the hospital...you still "get rid of it"...but you don't cause it's death in the process.

I understand that she may have been sexually abused, traumatized..even assuming that the worst has happened to her...if I was sitting on a jury, I still couldn't advocate letting her go if the state had a safe haven law.

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Specializes in LTC, geriatric, psych, rehab.

I agree...I guess I was just hoping that she hadn't actually drowned the baby, that maybe it was stillborn. I had six children, and would have done anything to protect them. Is so hard for me to understand how anyone, esp a mother of any age, could intentionally kill her baby.

Several years ago when I was living near Dallas, a man went out to his car to start the engine and let it be warming up for his drive to work. He found a newborn. It was wrapped in a sheet, with a note pleading for someone to take care of it. But it had gotten unexpectedly cold that nite and the baby had frozen to death. He and his wife were distraught. The police found the mother, a 16 yr old whose family had not known she was pregnant. They charged her with murder, and the city was in an uproar. The girl had tried to leave the baby in a safe place, and had no idea it was going to get so cold. The couple buried the baby. The police dropped charges. Was very sad. After that, there were ads on tv on where to leave babies safely. Don't know if there were any actual safe haven laws.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

I completely agree that some teens are in abusive households or are unsupervised, and seek out a sexual partner to make up for the love they don't get at home and find themselves pregnant. They can also find themselves in a situation where they will be threatened until they abort, abused, forced to give the baby up for adoption (when you are being abused, intimidation goes a long way as not all teens know what their options are) or are forced to hide the pregnancy for fear of more abuse.

This is the part that the court system, in states that don't have safe haven laws, don't seem to 'get'.

Mothers who are taumatized by a baby's birth, that do not have options, and don't want to be discovered, can have major, breakdowns of the psyche. To me, when no option is viable and the teen has the fear of being discovered, that is what leads to the dumpster babies, babies in toilets, public trash cans, etc.

I used to cringe when I hear these stories, or even worse, when they went to jail...not all teens have that loving grandmother to take them in, or the understanding aunt that will help them out.

However, when the safe haven laws were passed and publicized, to me, that is a viable option...a teen can keep their secret safe, put the baby in a safe place so it can find a loving home. No one has to know.

Personally, I think it should be a Federal and not State, law.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Link to story: http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_010509WAB_port_angeles_newborn_death_TP.3f36cc43.html

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Specializes in Case Manager/Administrator.

so the story goes another young under age female disposes of newborn child. as a society we do a poor job educating young females about options, choices and their rights with regard to birthing and keeping or giving their child(ren) up for adoption. we as nurses need to do a better job with primary nursing education of young women both in groups and one to one.

this young woman's father was a convicted felon who was arrested for firearms violation...where was his/her parole officer when he/she was suppose to perform random visits? the parole officer was suppose to make surprise visits to the home, did he/she not see the other 5 men and numerous children living there as well? did the parole officer ever see the pregnant young woman and communicate with her, if so department of corrections has the records. where was the communication between mother and daughter? too many red flags. this young woman may have fallen through the cracks of society checks and balances and now to make matters worse we may try her for a crime where she will go to purde or a juvenile (wa female prison) and really learn how to become a criminal. how is this justice?

this young woman needs intensive mental health inpatient counseling and a long term supportive living milieu in which she can flourish into a healthy contributing member of society.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CRRT,.

Is it not possible that this young woman knew she was doing wrong, but was forced to make the decision that was made? Say, the child was fathered by her own father or another man that was in and out of the house, and out of fear of being discovered, the "father" of the baby forced this? A young person, who has only ever known such fear and abuse, may not realize they have options. Maybe she HAD fallen through the cracks so to speak, and knew she would be put back into the present living situation, and was scared about the violence that awaited her had she not complied with this?

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