Teen mom arraigned after baby dies in vomit

[MrsBeckyLP]

I just saw this, and it makes me sick. I just don't understand. How can so many loving couples try and try for so long to have a baby, then "kids" like this have them and allow stuff like this to happen? It's not fair.

Savarin DeJesus spent her Friday night downing gin and smoking cigarettes before returning to the homeless shelter where she and her 4-month old baby girl lived.

The 18-year-old woman went to sleep with the baby at her side, but soon started throwing up in a bucket next to her bed filled with cleaning solution and water.

It ended up costing the baby her life: The infant fell into a puke-filled bucket and died.


http://www.newsday.com/news/yahoo/am-vomit0923,0,4817246.story?coll=ny-newsaol-headlines

[mel7dog]

:eek: This is horrible! Is this girl going to be charged with anything, or is this just an "accident"? :(

[MLA]

Mel -- I imagine that she'd be charged w/negligent homicide or child endangerment or something.

So sad. And so gross.

[maplekitty]

that is quite possibly the sickest thing I've heard - that poor innocent baby! :(

[Sophia]

OMG, that poor baby!

[wendalah]

This is from AP and they are using words like "puke" in their news stories? Sorry, that stood out to me.

[lml41981]

What a horrible way to die. I hope this mother had fun! Geeze... It is one thing to want to party, but when you have a baby, you can't party like that...and you *especially* can't party like that and then co-sleep. :mad:

[sea74]

That poor baby! I just pray that the baby didn't suffer and passed quickly. How can that "mother" even live w/herself?

[Sarah]

How horrible and tragic, for the mother and the child.

[greenbunny]

This is from AP and they are using words like "puke" in their news stories? Sorry, that stood out to me.

First thing I noticed, too. Very odd.

[alliannie]

From article:
She returned to the shelter at nearly 4 a.m. stinking of booze and retrieved her baby. A few minutes later, after chatting with some residents of the shelter and smoking cigarettes, she took Niah back to her room and changed her clothing and diaper.

That is when she told police she felt sick and vomited into the bucket next to the bed. She then passed out, clutching Niah's legs.

When she awoke between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., DeJesus found the baby's head inside the bucket that contained about six inches of liquid. The baby's skin had already turned cold. The baby was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

I find that even more disturbing then the baby falling in. She was holding on the the baby's leg while its head was in the bucket. I hope she gets charged. That poor baby...

[Tenny]

This makes me so sick! Really I'm sick to my stomach!

I’m going to hug my baby now, even though he just made me cry because it has been a long day and he throw his sippy cup at me!

[jnettie]

The whole situation is tragic, IMO. I feel aweful that the baby had to go in such a horrible way, and I feel very sad for this woman, or any person, reduced to what she had become.

[December27JJB]

Wow how sad. Poor baby.

[BTB]

I find that even more disturbing then the baby falling in. She was holding on the the baby's leg while its head was in the bucket.

I think you're reading more into the story than was stated. It says when the mother fell asleep, she was holding onto the baby's legs, and when she woke up, the baby's head was in the bucket. It doesn't say the two positions were ever simultaneous.

[alliannie]

I see what you are saying but either way it is very disturbing and sad:( .

[PG-rated]

As much as this was obviously the mother's fault, I don't understand why a baby was living in these unsafe conditions in the first place. What are the laws regarding shelter facilities for women with infants?

[LIZNKEITH]

That has to be one of the most horrible things I have ever heard. The poor little baby. :(

[JamBray]

Wow, how awful! That poor baby! I wonder what will happen to the mother.

[jnettie]

As much as this was obviously the mother's fault, I don't understand why a baby was living in these unsafe conditions in the first place. What are the laws regarding shelter facilities for women with infants?

I had to go back and check, and it seems that she was in an NYC shelter. NYC has some major problems with their shelter system, especially with ones available for families with children. Often, the shelters are run by private owners, who convert old hotels. The conditions are horrific, and they often go unchecked.

Everyone naturally focuses on the baby, and I agree it is horrific, but the mother clearly didn't do it intentionally. She's only 18, homeless, and most likely an alcoholic. Life is not good for her. Who knows what the situation was when she became pregnant. What's the solution here? What could have been done to prevent this?

[sea74]

What's the solution here? What could have been done to prevent this?

Well the article made some reference to the mother chatting w/residents and taking her baby back to the room. So why didn't anyone step in and keep the baby until the mom sobered up?

And it should be policy that if the parent comes in stinking like smoke and alcohol, then they cannot sleep w/their baby.

I know that sounds awfully simplistic, but someone there should have had some sense

[jnettie]

Very true. There should have been someone available to watch the baby until the mom was sober. Unforntunately, most homeless shelters could care less about the health and safty of their residents.

I was listening to the radio today, and there was an interesting story about the conditions at girls' juvenile detention centers in New York state. While it may not seem directly related, I feel it adds to the conversation, showing how a young woman could come to live in such conditions that would lead her to the unwitting death of her own child.

The Leonard Lopate Show (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2006/09/28)

Underreported: Abuse in Juvenile Prisons

A new report from Human Rights Watch and the ACLU documents abuse and neglect in two high-security New York juvenile prisons. Mie Lewis, the report’s author, tells us that girls at Lansing and Tryon have been violently restrained and sexually abused by staff members. Mie Lewis is the Aryeh Neier Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU.

There are usually pod casts of the episodes. I'll check later and post that link.

A link to the report by Human Rights Watch:
Custody and Control (http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/gen/custodycontrol.html)

These sorts of stories often cause such a visceral reation, that we don't often stop to think why the woman was in this possition in the first place. Just some food for thought.