How depraved, stupid or uninterested can parents get?

[CerberusIV]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3185381.stm

Police in the United States have arrested a couple who allegedly kept their twin five-year-old sons in cockroach-infested cages for 20 hours a day.
The children from Phoenix, Arizona were only allowed out when their mother Estelvina Rodriguez, 42, got home from work, police believe.

Officers discovered the twins on Saturday after their 20-year-old brother told an off-duty police officer at a local shop about their squalid living conditions.

They arrested the boys parents on suspicion of child abuse and kidnapping - the pair are being held on $243,000 bonds.

Mrs Rodriguez told police her husband Louis, 69, was in poor health and was unable to look after the boys.

Edna White, who has lived next door to the family for 27 years, said the boys were not toilet trained and could not walk.

"They can't talk. When they tried, just noises would come out," she said.

Police found the boys in two cages made of plastic crates, railings and fridge shelves, wired together.

Cockroaches filled the cages which contained a blanket and small mattress smeared with faeces and urine.

The boys, who appeared healthy and well-fed were put in care along with their eight-year-old brother, who freely roamed the house.

"They were happy to see us and opened their arms wide, reaching out to be held and picked up," Sergeant Jacqui MacConnell said.

Social workers had visited the house twice - two years ago - to investigate a complaint of neglect, but found the boys in good health playing outside.

"The mum reported the kids once got outside and were bitten by a dog. She said they kept them caged for their own protection," Sergeant Randy Force said.

When I come across a story like this I remember I am not as cynical as I like to make out. This really should not be happening.

[Cruddy]

I heard this story this morning on the radio.

No matter how long those heartless sh1tbags get, every day they'll get better treatment than they handed out.

[Sava]

IMO, the penalties for such abuses aren't enough... whatever they might be...

I'm leaning closer to supporting a program that requires people to have parenting licenses.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Sava
I'm leaning closer to supporting a program that requires people to have parenting licenses.

terrible story

crap idea though sava.

[Sava]

why so? we license people to drive... license people to own guns... wouldn't you say parenting encompasses greater responsibility to the two? And with overpopulation becoming a problem... personally, I don't think it's such a bad idea.

[Arrian]

Though I recognize it's not really a viable idea, sometimes I really do feel that some (most?) people shouldn't be allowed to breed.

-Arrian

[Evil Knevil]

Who the hell are you to license my family? Beyond the constraints of human rights (and abuse) why the flaming fez should you have power over my reproductive rights and my relationships?

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Sava
why so? we license people to drive... license people to own guns... wouldn't you say parenting encompasses greater responsibility to the two? And with overpopulation becoming a problem... personally, I don't think it's such a bad idea.

you want to have the government say whether people can have children or not! what next, a license to draw breath?

[Arrian]

Hence the "not viable" comment. It isn't my right, nor is it anyone else's. However, at times (such as when reading stories like these), I feel that there are an awful lot of people out there who should not be having kids.

-Arrian

[st_swithin]

"The boys, who appeared healthy and well-fed, were put in care along with their eight-year-old brother, who freely roamed the house. "

They were "in cockroach-infested cages for 20 hours a day" and still appeared healthy and well-fed - this suggests that perhaps the MOST time they could possibly have spent inside the cages is 20 hours. They OBVIOUSLY didn't sleep there.

If you are asleep, cockroaches have a nasty habit of tasting little bits of you until they find something they can nibble at that doesn't flinch - fingers and toes are generally the first things to go, as are noses, ears and lips. They also carry innumerable diseases, which are passed immediately to human hosts upon contact with the roaches' faeces or saliva.

The whole article sounds a bit dodgy to me - I wouldn't be surprised to find that the 'twin brothers' were cats or dogs.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm leaning closer to supporting a program that requires people to have parenting licenses.

How would one ever qualify?

You can practice driving a car, but can you practice being a parent?

Secondly, are you going to go around and make sure people follow the regulations? That would be some job.

[Sava]

Originally posted by Evil Knevil
Who the hell are you to license my family? Beyond the constraints of human rights (and abuse) why the flaming fez should you have power over my reproductive rights and my relationships?

not me... our representative democratic government... look at China or Africa... when too many people have too many kids, billions suffer... your perceived "right" to procreate is not paramount to the rights of billions to exist...

If you are a responsible person who can provide a child a good life, then you have nothing to worry about. If you're an irresponsible, abusive person who will lock you kids in a cage with cockroaches... sorry, you don't deserve the right to create life.

I don't know how a system would work, or if legislation would be the best way to go about instituting such a policy. It's just an idea I floated. It's far from necessary in America... but in the future, it could become a problem.

you want to have the government say whether people can have children or not! what next, a license to draw breath?

only as a last resort to overpopulation...

It isn't my right, nor is it anyone else's.

It's government's responsibility to preserve the lives of it's peoples... if overpopulation threatens that, government has whatever right we give it to solve the problem.

You can practice driving a car, but can you practice being a parent?

you can practice the "act"...

[C0ckney]

it's almost scary that someone can think it's ever ok to require a license for one of the basic human acts. you REALLY haven't thought this through sava.

[Sava]

Originally posted by C0ckney
it's almost scary that someone can think it's ever ok to require a license for one of the basic human acts. you REALLY haven't thought this through sava.

not at all... in fact, I think it's you who haven't yet thought about such a crisis such as overpopulation or how it should be handled... unless of course you like watching children starving to death...

Having a kid isn't a right, BTW... it's a responsibility... that's why there are laws against child abuse and why children in abusive homes are put in state care.

[C0ckney]

seriously. can you imagine sava's solution to an overloaded sewage system. force people to crap less, it's almost genius!