Babies shouldn't have babies

Yesterday morning, a 16-year-old girl in my city was charged with murdering her 13-month-old son by suffocating him with a teddy bear. She is an adorable little Vietnamese girl who looks about 12 in her pictures. She is shown on the news and in the newspapers in a picture where she is smiling and holding her baby boy, who is also smiling. They look so happy. The next shot is of the little girl in court, obviously not so happy - and looking very scared. Although she denied killing the baby initially, police say she later confessed. Her lawyer says that she was tired and worn out and pressured into confessing. He swears that there is evidence that helps prove that she did NOT kill her baby - he says the baby was recently diagnosed with asthma and/or bronchitis, and that the girl was interrogated by police for hours without being offered a lawyer.

The newscasters on Fox 25 this morning also said that this same little girl was babysitting her 3-month-old brother when she was EIGHT YEARS OLD and that baby also died by suffocation. My jaw dropped open, Cassidy was sitting next to me on the couch and she looked at me and said "Can I ask why an 8-year-old was babysitting an infant? Shouldn't the 8-year-old have had a babysitter herself?" I was so proud of my daughter for pointing that out when even the newscaster didn't seem to see a problem with it. However, the police stated flat out that they have no reason to suspect that she had anything to do with her baby brother's death - but they don't mention that on TV - they simply state it as if it's a fact that she murdered that baby and that she must have also murdered this one.

If you watch the Fox 25 news in the Boston area, you'll know who this is - it was VB on Fox (who I think is quite the asshole anyway) - who was talking about this case and the way he told the story made this girl sound like a cold, calculating mass murderer. She may very well be, I don't know - but neither does he. She could also very well be a poor little girl who has had some really bad shit happen to her. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? What if her baby was sick and died, and she's barely out of childhood herself - and suddenly she's treated like a criminal instead of a grieving parent?!? I can't think of anything much worse than that - and I think it's shameful to assume she caused the baby's death simply because of her age. He made it sound like she was a bad kid simply for having a baby at such a young age - as if the fact that she was young was some kind of evidence against her.

Now here's the kicker - her boyfriend was interviewed on TV stating that she is supposedly pregnant with his child (the baby is not his, he called himself the baby's stepfather and kept referring to him as "my child" - the article says he's been her boyfriend for about 7 months) - and that she turned 17 today and was supposed to go to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy. VB-the-jerk also states this as if it's more proof that she murdered her baby - I was absolutely irate and disgusted and I would have clocked him right upside the head if I had been anywhere near him. Jerk.

What a nightmare - can you even imagine? If you want to read the news story, it's on the front page today - click on the Telegram.com - if it's not still front page, search for "Nga Truong", that's her name. I can't help but wonder what kind of life this little girl has had, and what she's been through. She was babysitting her infant siblings at EIGHT YEARS OLD - she was pregnant at 15, and pregnant again at barely 17. She lived at home, but what kind of parents did she have? Her boyfriend of only 7 months lived with them - and he was not the baby's father. Of course she was pregnant again - what the hell did her parents think would happen by letting their teenage daughter move her new boyfriend in months after she gave birth? Shameful, I tell you - those parents should also be held accountable, as far as I'm concerned.

I just had to vent about this - it's really got my blood boiling, everything about it! It's sad and horrible that it happened, but it's even worse what the media is doing to convict this girl before the police are even done investigating. I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that she did not do it. But it's not up to me to decide - it's up to the police and the courts. There is one jury I would definitely NOT want to be on.

Love your children. Hug your children. Let them be CHILDREN! Peace.