Reply #8: this is unbelievable

[whyaduck]

There is no way they can point to one circumstance and say "*this* caused to the boy's suicide." His mother was working two jobs to support them, which most likely means that the father, wherever the hell he is, was not paying child support. Also, poor hygiene can be a result of low self-esteem - perhaps abandonment by his father also contributed to that? I don't think it's possible to know for sure.

Add to that the bullying he endured at school, and the fact that pre-teen and teenage years are already difficult for a lot of kids because of the changes you go through physically and emotionally.

My main point is, this conviction is unfair because the situation is probably a lot more complex than it appears. I'm not excusing the fact that the home was filthy, but it is unusually cruel to compound this woman's suffering by implicating her exclusively in her son's death. If the boy had died from illness that was the direct result of the filthy state of the home, or from starvation or some similar reason, then there would have been a case for neglect.