The Baby-Swinging Mom

Mom Accused of Swinging Baby As Weapon
A woman used her 4-week-old baby as a weapon in a domestic dispute, swinging the infant through the air and striking her boyfriend with the child, authorities said.
The boy was in serious but stable condition Monday at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said.
"Never, never, never. I can never remember anything like this," District Attorney Bradley Foulk told the Erie Times-News.
Chytoria Graham, 27, of Erie, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. She was held Monday in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
The infant, whose name was not released, suffered a fractured skull and some bleeding in the brain, authorities said. His head hit Graham's boyfriend, the baby's father, police Lt. Dan Spizarny said.
Authorities removed four other children from Graham's home and placed them with the Erie County Office of Children and Youth, Foulk said.

This is another front-of-the-line candidate for my simple and effective system of immediately revoking all parental rights. She's made her highly considered and maturely crafted statement on her willingness and capability to discharge the public and private trust held in her to care for and protect the children she's apparently borne, and her statement is one of complete failure. In fact, her statement is one of total rejection in favor of her own selfish needs.

The solution is simple, for the children and for society at large: she no longer gets this chance. This is not a situation of youthful immaturity, some teenage mom not being able to deal with the pressures of life and parenthood--she's 27, after all. This also is no second-chance kind of situation, because the next time she'll kill the child, or more than just one. My solution is simple, and best for all concerned: the children are gone, permanently, she's barred ever from caring for or adopting children, and she's permanently sterilized. She gets her freedom, which his clearly what she wants, and the children are removed from what is clearly a dangerous and non-fostering environment.

This all happens provided the judicial proceedings decide that she did in fact carry out this act. That being decided, no, she has no recourse, she has no appeal, and the decision is final. She can marry and engage in whatever adult relationships she chooses (and I'm sure those are really, really great adventures, given what is described above), but her opportunity to share her life with children is over.

That's how it will be when I become philosopher-king. Watch out, because when the changes come, they'll come fast. And for many, they'll come hard.