Dear Moms,
Yet another child with autism has been killed by their mother. This is such a travesty and could have been prevented. This hurts my heart to think this precious little boy was thrown to his death. The mother had sought psychiatric help after breaking down and was released and put back in charge of the care of her severely autistic child, which makes no sense to me. Our system is broken and there MUST be more services for children on the spectrum and more services to help families cope with raising children with autism and all of the challenges that entails.
But as moms we can help too. If you know a special needs mom or you see one in passing at your child's school or you know one online, reach out to them. Having a child with autism can be a very lonely road at times and very isolating as you shy away from social gatherings for fear of your child's reaction. Holidays and family gatherings are hard and often avoided all together. Play dates are out of the question for most. Our children rarely have friends to invite to a birthday party. It is hard for us to go out with our friends or significant other, as finding someone capable of caring for our child is difficult. Reach out. Sometimes just being a listening ear could make a world of difference. This mother is not the victim, her child is the victim, but how many people did she come into contact with as she was spiraling down that looked the other way? Something to think about.
