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Between you and me

August 31st, 2007 · by map · No Comments

I know that one of the things Leah finds frustrating about not getting pregnant — aside from all her friends who are pregnant or new mothers — is that there are lots of people out there who are pregnant or new mothers who should probably never have had sex in the first place, let alone given birth. Like this lady.

Schnobrich, who told cops she used Percocet and took 86 sleeping pills in the prior two days, was charged with two counts of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor public intoxication. Days before her most recent arrest, Schnobrich pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor operating while intoxicated charge.

Talk about a responsible parent! Too whacked out on sleeping pills and booze, she enlisted her five-year-old to drive her home. Know when to say when, mom. Won’t somebody think of the children? At least she didn’t stuff the kid in a microwave, run over him in the driveway, or leave him home alone for a week while she went on a meth-fueled bender in another county.

I know I’m not supposed to say this, but it sure is frustrating to see all the ways our child welfare apparatus in this country fails under the weight of caring for children who were born to mothers who never, ever stood a chance of supporting a child. It’s difficult to talk about restricting a woman’s right to do what she wants with her reproduction (as someone who’s tried to talk a woman out of buying shoes, I know from whence I speak), but it’s heartbreaking to look at my darling Ava and to think of all the children in our own little city who go without every night. Children who suffer at the feet of the stupid decisions their parents made. There’s a difference between those parents and the parent I am; I don’t have any hesitation stating that. Maybe it’s the difference between children being an intentional choice or being a collateral occurrence. What kind of person can have so little regard for a child? Are they sociopaths?

Just what everyone needs: A real downer post on a gorgeous Friday.

Tags: Ava