Boys, ages 2 and 4, were caged 'like animals' inside their Omaha home all day while parents worked,

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Todd Cooper

Two boys were caged “like animals” inside their northwest Omaha home, according to a prosecutor.

The boys, ages 2 and 4, were locked in a bedroom in their parents’ mobile home and left to fend for themselves while their parents worked through the day, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said.

On Wednesday, a 9-year-old child of Martha Navarro, 33, and Venancio Vazquez, 37, reported to school officials that her two brothers were locked in a room and left alone all day.

Omaha police responded to the mobile home near 126th Street and West Maple Road and found the boys, ages 2 and 4, naked and locked inside the room “with no food or water,” according to a prosecutor’s report.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/boys-ages-and-were-caged-like-animals-inside-their-omaha/article_8a2df0fe-85b0-58d8-bee6-d36238647855.html

[shenmue]

1. ...

[uppityperson]

2. I am glad the kids survived and are getting the help they need. nt

[JDPriestly]

3. Horrible! We need affordable day-care and pre-kindergarten available for every child whose

parents want to use it. At least one teacher per 15-20 children depending on the age should have a degree or at least two years of study on early childhood education and psychology.

This is so important. Families need to have this help available if they need and want it.

[marym625]

4. sick bastards.

Truly horrible. Thank goodness the oldest child told someone. And I am sure she will feel guilty about it for splitting the family up. I hope all the kids get all the help and love they need

[mahannah]

5. Good that the kids are getting help. How about the parents?

[Kalidurga]

6. Poor kids.

I hope that they don't remember that abuse when they are older. And while I am sympathetic to the parents not being able to afford daycare, I still hope they don't get the kids back. People are fooling themselves if they think the parents get better. They don't they only get better at hiding their dysfunction, some don't even do that.

[valerief]

7. If we were a social democracy, there'd be govt-provided daycare. nt

[passiveporcupine]

8. Or, people could get free contraceptives

and necessary abortions, so parents wouldn't end up with more kids than they can afford to handle. And no church screaming at them for sinning for using contraceptives or having an abortion if the contraceptives fail. If only we were a more socialist country.

Oh, those poor kids.

And yes, free day care would go a long long way to helping families like this. But we still need to curtail too many children being born to families who can't afford them because of lack of affordable family planning, and religious dogma messing with everything.

[Cal Carpenter]

19. Really?

"...we still need to curtail too many children being born to families who can't afford them..."

Who is 'we' and how do 'we' curtail them? Forced sterilization? 'Necessary abortions' (your words) under a certain income level?

[passiveporcupine]

22. Only helping them when they don't want to have kids

Not forced "curtailing"...I used a poor choice in words there. And by necessary, I meant necessary to them (not anyone else). Sorry.

That didn't come out sounding good at all, did it?

[Cal Carpenter]

23. No worries

Thanks for seeing what I was getting at. When I see that kind of language, it just pushes a button for me and the feisty comes out.

[newfie11]

9. Exactly!

but but OMG anything referring to socialism must be bad don't ya know!

This is what happens when it takes both parents working to support a family. I wonder if they could not afford a babysitter.

[marshall]

10. Or children could be relinquished and adopted by someone else

Children do not have to stay with biological parents when circumstances are such that they cannot be properly cared for.

[Puppyjive]

11. Only in the USA

Children don't belong in daycare, they should be raised by their own families. Unfortunately in this country, being a stay at home parent has become a luxury and not a right.

[mopinko]

13. really? children dont belong in daycare?

where do you draw that line? do you have to be below the poverty line to continue your career? how about if you are a doctor? should you just sit on that medical degree, and those much needed skills, for 10 years or so while your kids grow up?
is there some sort of review board you would like to establish to make sure that people HAVE to work?

this is a board for liberals. if you think that you have the right to judge other people's life choices, maybe you are in the wrong place.

[crim son]

15. So you're saying they DO belong in daycare and not

at home? I think you're overreacting and misrepresenting what the poster is saying. I know that guilty feeling, believe me, but I don't attack people who acknowledge that being at home is perhaps an ideal, if often impossible, situation.

[bluestateguy]

17. Careful

If my life choice is to own a gun and be a Christian, I have seen some posters here at DU not be very respectful of those life choices.

[prayin4rain]

18. Agreed. My child's daycare is amazing, the teachers, experiences

and friendships he has had there have done so much for him. I could never provide as many enriching experiences as a stay at home mom. On the weekends we have the money, because I work, to go to the zoo, museum, aquarium, arboretum, etc. Also, I get so much from my career, I think it helps me be a better mom. Staying at home is ideal for some, but not everybody.

[packman]

21. Think you misread the post-

Have to agree with him, children SHOULD be at home, but unfortunately this is an example of where both parents had to work and dealt with the situation as best as they thought they could. Perhaps they had not recourse - no support, not enough of a salary to afford a sitter or daycare. This is a no win-no win situation in my opinion.

[prayin4rain]

24. I don't think leaving them without any food, clothes or water is doing the best they can. n/t

[secondvariety]

12. The parents

have an "extensive history' with Child Protection. It's about time Child Protection starts thinking about the children instead of babying the parents.

[Zamen]

20. Right

I don't know how many cases like this I've heard where Child Protection knew full well, but they either failed to notify the proper people in order to get action taken, or they wouldn't confront the parents out of fear of retaliation.

[FLPanhandle]

14. Don't have children if you can't afford them.

Children are incredibly expensive both in time and money.

It's no coincidence that the more children a family has, the poorer they generally are. When a couple is already on the edge of poverty, having children cements them into poverty.

Contraceptives and abortions are cheap comparatively.

[Major Nikon]

16. About half of all pregnancies are unplanned

Meanwhile the religious nutbags in the US are doing their best to drive that number up any way they can while simultaneously ending all alternatives to full term births.

The consequences of those results speak for themselves.