I found the court ruling in this case quite extreme. I can’t work out why this mother wasn’t granted granted supervised contact with her children on the condition that she undergo ongoing therapy for her mental illness:
TO the outside world she was a loving mum who had a very sickly young son.
But after 115 New South Wales hospital visits in three years, she has been banned from contacting her nine-year-old child – and his three siblings – before they turn 18 amid grave fears that her behaviour could lead to one of them being harmed or even killed.
The “extreme” order was made after the Children’s Court heard the woman showed signs of Munchausen syndrome by proxy – a form of child abuse where parents repeatedly invent illnesses for their children because they crave attention and sympathy. She denies the claim.
The mother has also been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder.
In the first case of its kind in the state, the court heard that while obsessing on her eldest child she neglected the others – aged three, six and seven – describing them as “side salad”.
Child experts referred to them as “forgotten children”.
When a court bans a parents of all contact with their children they need a very good reason.I am not convinced the reasoning here warrants the severity of the ban.
Do you believe this mother was harshly dealt with?
Click on the link to read my post on the father who was considered to obese to keep his children.
Tags: 115 New South Wales hospital visits, attention and sympathy, Child neglect, Child Welfare, forgotten children, magistrate Graham Blewitt, Mother banned from seeing her children, Mother called her son sickly, Mother invents illnesses for her child, Munchausen syndrome mother, narcissistic personality disorder, News, Parenting, The Department of Family and Community Services
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