My Blog

I have just given an interview on BBCWM concerning the case of a lady in Birmingham who has been given a 6 month jail sentence, suspended for two years. You can listen again to the interview here for the next seven days (just after 01:16:30 on the counter). The media have reported that she was identified as suffering from postnatal depression.

A newspaper account reports:

“A “desperate” mother who concealed a pregnancy and then abandoned her newborn in a plastic carrier bag in a city park has walked free from court.

The child, given the name Jade, only had hours to live when she was discovered by a dog walker in some bushes, but later flourished after receiving medical treatment.

The 27-year-old woman, who had previously admitted a charge of child abandonment, was sentenced to six months suspended for two years.

Rhydian James, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said the defendant, who already had three young children, became pregnant in about January last year: “She hid her pregnancy from her family and failed to inform health care professionals of her condition.”

He said her mother had her suspicions but when challenged she denied she was pregnant.

On October 31 the woman give birth in the bathroom of her mother’s home before telling her she was just going to the shops.

Mr James said the defendant’s mother later found three towels and a bathroom mat soaked with blood.

He said the baby was found at 1.40pm by a dog walker in Marlborough House Community Park, Stechford,

He saw a carrier bag and heard crying and when he opened it found the child inside, wrapped in a towel. The newborn’s face was blue and she was suffering from hypothermia.

The baby was rushed to Heartlands hospital but later made a full recovery and put into foster care.

 Mr James said the defendant later went to Stechford police station and admitted she was the mother of the child.

She initially claimed she had been raped but later admitted this was a lie.

The court was told the mother had a troubled relationship with her partner had suffered from significant post natal depression and that she was also being subjected to emotional and physical abuse.

Tarlowchan Dubb, defending, said her family had threatened to withdraw their support and her partner had threatened to leave her if she had another child.

At the time social services were already involved with her three other children.

Mr Dubb said “The circumstances in relation to the birth of the baby is evidence of this defendant’s sheer desperation at the position she found herself in.”

Judge Simon Drew QC said the tiny child was very vulnerable and that the defendant had failed to get medical help.

However he went on “When her partner left things clearly spiralled out of control. When she realised she was pregnant she feared her children would be removed.

“In panic and desperation she acted as she did.”

He said he accepted she had been suffering from a severe depressive episode while suffering from a major depressive disorder.”

I am aware that I am making comments on this purely from the journalists accounts. There are a number of issues that lead me to the belief that I feel that this lady should have been helped rather than given a sentence.

1. Domestic violence

Do you know that incidence of physical and emotional abuse INCREASES during pregnancy?

• Over a third of domestic violence starts or gets worse when a woman is pregnant.
• 15% of women report violence during their pregnancy.
• 40%–60% of women experiencing domestic violence are abused while pregnant.

Look at http://www.bestbeginnings.org.uk/domestic-abuse for the source of these figures, more information and most importantly where to get help.

The ‘partner’ involved in the case, questionably needs a prison sentence and punishing as opposed to the lady who gave birth to his child. He also, most importantly,  needs help and treatment to stop him from being an abuser. Where is he now? Is he with a new partner that he may also be abusing and she is too scared to ask for help? Does he not know about contraception?

2. Antenatal depression and anxiety

In a previous blog I have written about this. The lady in this case clearly had massive stress and anxiety during this pregnancy. It sounds like she lived in pure fear for the 9 months she carried the child. Is it surprising then that her brain was affected? The media reports all mention postnatal depression and nothing about the emotional turmoil of 9 months leading up to the birth.

3. The birth

I doubt if there is a woman alive who would like to deliver their baby on their own on a bathroom floor. I know that thought fills me with horror. Wouldn’t anyone functioning at full mental health be in a state of shock if this happened?

4. The other family members

How must the grandmother feel in this? What are the other siblings going through? What support is in place for them? What are the relationships like now for the family? I do hope and trust that they are being helped.

3. Fear

This mother appears to have had three huge fears. One concerned her partners actions as a result of the pregnancy plus the response of her family; in addition was the fear that Social Services would take her other young children away. If she didn’t love them why would this have bothered her? Although some people may knock Social Services, their main aim is to keep children and parents together as much as possible. It is so sad that none of these fears were solved and they culminated with her abandoning her newborn. Many people still worry about being honest about how they are feeling and admitting to perinatal (ante and post natal) depression. In doing so, the illness can get worse. Let’s aim to end this stigma and fear.

4. The baby

What will happen to her long term? Will she be allowed back to her mother? What might the impact of stress and abuse as an unborn fetus have long term on her? Will she be helped and supported in accepting the circumstances of her ‘abandonment’. Many of us will have watched, and cried, at the painful stories of ITV’s  ‘Long lost family‘, where sons and daughters have been separated at birth for a whole range of reasons. Decades of grief have resulted from both sides. I hope that this will not be the case here.

5. The mother

I know that in my life at significant points of mental illness and turmoil I have done ‘crazy’ things, that at the time I felt numb to. When I went walking in the early hours of a wet December morning wearing just my nightie, as my postnatal illness was at its worse, did that seem like  a reasonable idea? To me it did. When I sunk my teeth into my outreached, loving hand of my Dad, did it seem appropriate? To me it did. When I took photograph frames apart with beautiful pictures of my baby son and I and cut my arms with the glass, did it seem a sensible action? To me it did.

I was very lucky that although I came very, very close to harming my beloved baby and also ending my own life, I received the help and treatment needed. I have faced stigma and harsh judgements from people about my mental illness. Indeed, in the past I may well have wrongly judged the lady in this case as wicked and evil. I learned from experience that when our minds are unwell, they are capable of shutting all logical and rationale thought out.

Even at a very basic level haven’t you done something ‘absentmindedly’? I laughed at myself recently for a silly thing I did. On waking in a hotel room I put the kettle on to make myself a cup of tea. Yawning, I put the teabag in the cup; poured on the hot water; peeled the lid off the milk carton – then poured the milk into the bin and put the lid in the cup! I am NOT comparing the actions of this mother to an inconsequential action like this. I am saying that we all are capable of our brains doing things that sometimes are way beyond rational and conscious thought.

I welcomed the opportunity to speak on the radio this morning because each time I do I hope and pray that maybe someone out there will have a greater awareness and empathy to help an expectant or new mother (or father).  Having a new baby is a wonderful event. Please help me to spread the information and understanding for those whom the journey of parenthood is a troublesome one.

Elaine