parents

He shook his baby so hard it caused brain damage. Does that sound like a good parent to you?

Given it’s the Federal Election and all, this story will probably be buried somewhere down the back of the newspaper. It probably won’t get a run on the TV news or in radio news bulletins either. But I think you should know about it because I think it’s a shocking case of injustice.

From ABC Online today:

A man who was found guilty of violently shaking his baby has been given a suspended jail sentence so he can help care for his now severely-disabled son.

Philip Edward Clarke’s three-month-old son sustained severe brain damage in August 2006 while at home with his parents at Ingle Farm in Adelaide.

The court heard the boy’s injuries were caused by violent shaking or by shaking and throwing the baby with force. Judge Wayne Chivell suspended a three-year jail term in favour of a good behaviour bond.

More details at News.com (thanks for the link Evil Cupcakes):

In sentencing today, Judge Wayne Chivell said Clarke had lost his temper and either shaken his son, or thrown him onto a soft surface with a hard base like a couch, AdelaideNow reports. “It is clear … that it was your actions, whatever they were, that caused his injuries,” Judge Chivell said.”(The) trauma required to inflict the sort of injuries suffered by William in this case would not have been minor.”

William suffered bleeding in the space between his brain and skull, extensive brain damage and was blinded in both eyes.

 

It just so happens that I’m in the middle of reading a book about this subject. It’s journalist and author Caroline Overington’s 2nd novel, I Came To Say Goodbye and while it’s not released until October, I have a preview copy. It’s brilliant.

Caroline knows a lot about shaken baby syndrome. Last year, when I railed against retailer Cotton On for turning child abuse into a smart-arse baby t-shirt slogan with their size 00 jumpsuits featuring and the words “They Shake Me!” emblazoned on them, Caroline wrote this for The Punch:

The ‘funny’ baby suit by Cotton On

As the 8000-plus readers of Mia Freedman’s Twitter feed will already know, the clothing company, “Cotton On” has launched a new range of baby suits and T-shirts, bearing the amusing
slogan: “They Shake Me.’’

This baby’s shirt is harmless by comparison to Cotton On’s latest offeringThis baby’s shirt is harmless by comparison to Cotton On’s latest offering

Trouble is, all the babies in the ads for the “They Shake Me” range are bright and happy and smiling at the camera.

Surely, if Cotton On is going to make light of child abuse, they should use a real-life victim of child abuse to model the clothes?

I have the perfect candidate. In late July, the Australian newspaper published a story about a little boy called Lincoln.

He is 18 months old, and lives permanently in the Children’s Hospital in Sydney.

Lincoln can stand in a frame, and when his nurses go to feed him with a bottle, he’ll sometimes reach out and touch their hands.

Journalist & author Caroline Overington

But Lincoln is blind and partly deaf, and he won’t ever walk, and there are times when he can’t stop crying.

Pediatricians at the hospital believe Lincoln was shaken as baby. He was taken to the emergency ward at the age of two months, with a bulging skull and twitching limbs, and he’s been there ever since.

Staff at the hospital would be happy to keep Lincoln forever, saying he has grown into a “delightful little boy” but the real goal is to find him a family.

They hope there will be a nice couple out there, who could meet Lincoln in the hospital, get to know him and learn about his special needs, and eventually take him home.

But that’s not really exploiting Lincoln’s commercial potential, is it? He would be the perfect ambassador for Cotton On’s new baby range.

“They Shake Me!” No, it’s really too perfect.

I called Cotton On in Melbourne this morning, to ask whether they’d consider a real victim of child abuse in the ads for their oh-so-funny new clothes, but apparently, their media person is in meetings all day, and they have no statement to make.

This post has been republished here with full permission. To read the original click here

I am aghast at how someone who has been found guilty of injuring a baby so severely that he has brain damage and is partially blind could be considered by a judge as a suitable person to help take care of that baby. How is this possible?