"Seeking treatment" is more difficult than you might think. If you don't have the money for a private rehab program, you usually have to wait on waiting lists for public programs. And public programs don't offer long-term support services, which are really what's needed to break addiction. It's ridiculously absurd. If she wasn't seeking treatment, then it was likely the addiction itself that stopped her from doing so, not a lack of trying to be a responsible parent. Addiction does really crazy things to a person's brain. It's an illness that, tragically, sometimes manifests into situations like this.

However, what are the barriers for single parents getting treatment? Even if somebody knows what the right thing to do is, it doesn't mean that they can even get there no matter how much it matters. If she had no support system, nobody she could trust with the girl, no health insurance, etc. how would it be possible for her to clean up?

These are larger questions that our society needs to answer given the worsening epidemic, because all the hateful judgemental stuff on this thread isn't going to result in the kinds of policies that we need to have in place, or the resources to implement them, that will prevent another baby doe.

The people I knew who were able to lift them selves out of their messes? They had clean and sober spouses, trustworthy parents, supportive siblings ...

Reports say Michael McCarthy, 35, of Boston is in custody being questioned.

it seems mental illness is being used more and more to excuse criminal behavior. Lawyers are going to say whatever it takes. Some people are just criminals.

Mental illness doesn't give someone a pass to do whatever he or she feels like doing - shooting up schools, shooting up movie theaters or killing children.

Just because the neighbors report that there was neglect, doesn't mean that the DCF would have known about it. They would have to file a report on it.

They only know what is reported to them. They don't have spycams in every household. What I really wonder is how the mother evaded notice when it came to professional medical care givers, unless she was a sufficiently "functional" addict to publically cover for her issues - e.g. showing up to all the well-baby appointments, kid was healthy and growing well and normal, cleaning up while pregnant, etc.

God's larger plan for the child and/or society. Regardless of their specific faith, most people who believe in a divine power also have the maturity to recognize that that power (whatever form people feel they may take) occasionally allows bad things to happen.

As the saying goes 'God answers all prayers. Sometimes the answer is no."

People here are gathering to express their remorse that this thing ever happened and raging on the culprit to vent and our leading faux progressives take it as an idiot 'teaching moment' to lecture people about being judgmental because social ideology is so much more important.

This is what makes them so disgusting, particularly when they dump judgments, willy nilly, all the time, about Massholes who went too less than stellar colleges, about people who are less than perfect over some trivial thing and so on.

Fake progressives never grasp that we are judgmental monkeys while being gloriously mind blind to their own dumb shit stream of judgments.

This really isn't a great time for purity lessons.It's just mawkish noise cluttering up the signal of grief and rage.

I'm with Cybah and doing what I can to not sob my brains out.

And the alternate track of the emotion flow is very intense loathing for the flailing skank that allowed this to happen

You nor I have any idea what the mom's role is (if any) in her child's body being found...at this point.

You know this, how?

Shouldn't you be talking to the cops instead of posting this on UHub, as they weren't even able to establish the cause of death? The official reports note that the authorities didn't find anything on the girl's body to conclude that she was murdered or even abused.

Fits your pattern of ignoring established facts, though.

Gee, I want your crystal ball.

Again, (third time), we have no information whether the mom murdered her child.

That her mom failed in her greatest responsibility and dad is perhaps little more than a sperm donor.

Do you think people are hurting Bella's feelings? Could you explain who is being hurt and how?