too many unknowns at this point, but enough to say that ~ whether it's a case of out and out neglect or some mental illness ~ the system broke down somewhere along the way. thank god that the little ones are safe, and hopefully young enough to not have this traumatize them.
I'm gonna go with "amen" on this. Mostly, the lack of knowledge of pertinent information. Guess the thing that sticks with me, though, is the title of the thread. "Whatever you do, shift the blame," seems to be the rallying cry, anymore. For my part, I gotta say bugger that noise. In the span of eleven months, these folks didn't figure out that just having food for their offspring wasn't enough? No dice. And, I'm sorry, "oh, I got distracted online" is not a valid excuse. Having some dude in a white lab coat with glasses and a goatee say it's to be expected of someone with an addictive personality doesn't wash, either. Plain and simple, they had the kids, they neglected the kids. Hells, yes, take away their TV and computer privileges, just for the love of all that's good and right in the world, don't go handing the next couple of self-interested quasi-hedonists an out.