Compassion for mother who chained up autistic son? What?!?

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When I first read the article, my first thought was was the kid violent so the mother feared her safety and other kids so she tied him up in his room. But it didn't mention him being aggressive so it came off as her being lazy to deal with him so she tied him up so she can go out and shop and not have him ruin her time because she was too selfish to stay home with him. I might be judgmental there because I don't know the whole story. They didn't say what she had to shop for. It could have been for groceries and she couldn't find a baby sitter and her kids need to eat so she had to go shopping. But I was glad the boy was rescued and put into custody. Now the mother doesn't have to worry about him unless the boy gets abused in his new home. Also I wonder why was he taken to the hospital, how did him being tied up make him sick so it made me wonder how long had he been like that for? Did the mother starve him? Did she dehydrate him? Or were they just taking him there to see if he was in good condition because they didn't know how long he had been like that for?

How often will a special needs child need to be abused to make the state and country realize how much help a family needs? If people truly cared for them, then they would be getting them help sooner and not ignore the family needs when they try and reach out for it and not be blown off or pushed under the rug or be given not enough support.

Blaming abuse on lack of support is no different than blaming school shootings on bullying. I think it's a logical thing to say how abuse or neglect happens due to lack of support and families not knowing what to do just like how logical it is to say how bullying can lead someone to shoot up a school. Of course we are not saying it is okay for them to shoot up a school just like how no one is saying how it was okay for the boy to be tied up in his home.

Police release mother of allegedly chained autistic boy without charge

Apperently they are so compassionate towered the mothers of autistic children that they can treat thier children like slaves without penalty.

Is it more abusive to chain a child up or to drug the child to make him more docile and easier to handle? Or would this be just another case of "justifiable" child abuse?

"It's him or me", I imagine her saying. "I either chain him up, medicate him out of his mind, or he drives me crazy."

This isn't love. It's slavery.

Hopefully they have put monitoring and supports in place. However in my experience these tend to be short term and the parent realises they have to "pass the test" for the period of surveillance. The case is then closed by child welfare services, services end, and there is a high probability that the situation will default to the previous state of affairs.

The response would certainly have been very very different had the chained child been neurotypical, I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

A complicating factor in this case however may be that there are no safe extended family members in the country, willing to care for the boy and capable of meeting his needs, under a contractual arrangement with child services. That is what would probably happen in New Zealand, with guardianship possibly being taken by the authorities so that they can make all the important decisions in the boy's life, education, care and therapy needs. It's a very sad case and the galling part is the lame response from the autistic group spokesperson who sided with the mother not the child. Just sad sad sad..

Right... because we all know and parent a child with severe autism every day, don't we ? So we all know how wrong and abusive and sad and how "unjustified" drugging a violent child is - I mean, the parent should just take the beatings, because for crying out loud, that kid is a special snowflake... er, autistic, I mean. It's a bad idea to drug a kid just because he is violent AND drugs make his behaviours easier to manage ! I mean, what's a black eye every now and then, especially when it's his or her parent at the receiving end ? Gee.. people ! !!

I am amazed the mother wasn't charged. She should be blamed, shamed, criminalized and deported back to the hell hole she emerged from. Now that would be sweet justice.

Oh, and I hope that SOMEONE ELSE will step in and take in that kid. I just comment from behind my monitor, I can't actually be bothered to step in and help or .. GOD FORBID... even take in that kid. Not my kid, not my problem, although I do have half-a-dozen judgment calls to make on this issue.

Parents who treat their children like the family dog ... what next ... spaying and neutering? Locking them up in a kennel-run? Taking them for "walkies" on a leash? Making them wear shock collars to keep them quiet?

What if those poor kids ever bite someone? Will they be "put to sleep" and left out with the trash?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THOSE PARENTS?!

Wait, was the kid violent? If he was, I have less sympathy for the "victims" when they're violent. I just see them as wild animals and what do we do with wild animals? We defend ourselves. Too bad it's hard to commit someone these days. I don't know what the laws are in Australia about it but here it's really difficult to do.

I feel sorry for anyone when they have to deal with abuse from the "victim."

Maybe she desperately needed to buy food for her kids and she was afraid he would hurt himself so she thought it would keep him safer if she tied him up. Maybe the store has given her grief about bringing this child with her. Maybe the store won't allow him in. I have been kicked out of stores before. I even worked in a bakery where a mom would come with her kid and buy milk and a sandwich and every day she came in the kid would throw the milk all over the floor and walls while they were eating. Then my boss would have to clean it. Eventually my boss said that if they did that one more time he would tell her she was no longer allowed to eat at our bakery.

The problem is we really have no idea what her motives were or what he is like. The article says he runs out sometimes. Maybe she thought this would protect him from running into the street and getting hurt or killed. Maybe she really loves this child and just does not know the best ways of helping him. She has no help with him. Maybe she is just trying to figure it out by herself and she does not know what to do. We have no idea what their situation actually is. The action itself is abusive but we don't know that her motives and intentions are. She might be the most loving mother in the world who found herself in a desperate situation and had no idea how to handle it. To just automatically label her as some kind of devil is a bit unfair if we don't know anything about her situation.

Yes, the action of tying up a kid is abusive and should not be done, that does not make her a devil. And one action does not give us the right to determine that she abuses this kid all day every day. What needs to happen is to find out why she did this and if the entire living situation is toxic or if she just had a moment of desperation and needs help to learn how to handle her kid. I think it's dangerous and unfair to jump to huge conclusions on one article talking about one action when we know nothing else about the living situation at all.

And why is the place called Blacktown? Is that where the poor black people live, the ones who have no public resources to help them? That was actually my first question.

I am of the strong opinion that you do not torture disabled people. You can't torture animals. You can't torture prisoners. You can't torture children--ANY child, even if they are disabled. I don't like the kind of "otherthink" that a lot of people, especially "special needs parents" (ugh, how I hate that term...) have about their kids. That they may be shaped like human beings but are not quite human, therefore any abusive situation must be met with compassion.

As for the JRC and the torturing of autistic children that goes on there. The parents should agree to be shocked as often as their children.

Welcome to WP Miss Lizard. It's nice to have you here.

I have to wonder though, if parents of disabled children really see them as less than human and as people who need to be tortured. I know that there a few sickos that see any children as that but I am talking about normal parents. I more so see parents who love their children but feel desperate to help them or who are so overwhelmed that they are doing desperate things. The actions themselves are painful and bad but I don't think we should be so quick to judge how the parents feel about their kids.

I am Autistic but I have a family member with a different mental illness which is very severe. I know how much the parents and family love this child. I have also seen the desperate measures they have taken to try to help this child and to try to keep this child from hurting others. Someone from the outside can look at this situation and throw all kinds of judgment on it. But I know first hand what the parents think and feel and the enormous love for this child. I also know the agony they go through trying to figure out which therapies are best and how they have to weight the pros and cons of each in order to try to help the child and the entire family as much as possible.

I have also been abused as an Autistic and Misophonic person. I have never been chained to a bed but I have been abused in other ways. What was done to me was not right or good either but I can see the perspective of the people who did it. I am in no way at all condoning their actions, but I do understand them.

What I find interesting is how adult austistics want autistics to be treated with respect and compassion, yet they won't reciprocate and are quick to judge and call for blood. Then they wonder why they are unpopular and pull the strawman of "it's my disability" as opposed to the true "its because i am an a-hole". Talk about self entitlement. They are such special snowflakes, lol.

All you bleeding hearts here -- how many of you would take this kid in if you think the mum is so bad ?? Let me guess -- not one. But you are quick to run your mouth and pontificate to someone else.

Some of these posts make me wonder if ASD is autism spectrum disorder or anti social disorder (or a-hole syndrome disorder).