It is beyond unfortunate that we live in a world where child-neglect is a thing. Sadly, child-neglect is all too common. This is surprising, as you would think that any parent would be instinctively inclined to care for their own offspring. However, if you look up child-neglect online, you will find numerous news stories telling about extreme cases of child-neglect. In many of these cases, children are found within insect-infested conditions. Sometimes, the neglected children suffer insect-related injuries, such as bites and even infections that were left untreated. For example, back in 2012, a news story out of the United Kingdom described a mother who kept her baby in a cage that also contained numerous cockroaches. When this baby was rescued by officials with the Department of Human Services, cockroaches were found crawling in and out of the baby’s diaper. Additionally, the baby had sustained multiple bites from the roaches. This case may seem extreme, but sadly, it is far from being the most tragic instance of child-neglect. During the month of April, in 2015, one Oklahoma mother was arrested for child-neglect after police found the corpse of her baby within a home infested by cockroaches. Even more appalling, when the baby was found, she was being eaten by several of the invading cockroaches, which is, without a doubt, the most horrific aspect of this story.
A woman named Brittany Cherokee Dawn Bell was arrested in 2015 after authorities found several cockroaches “nibbling away” at her baby’s lifeless corpse within her filthy home. Bell, 27, claimed to have found her daughter’s corpse after waking up from a nap. The baby was only five months old before she tragically died due to unknown causes. The medical examiner was unable to determine the cause of the baby’s death, which is why Bell was charged with child-neglect as opposed to homicide. When pushed for an explanation regarding her daughter’s death, Bell proceeded to blame her other two children. Bell was under the impression that her two eighteen month old twins suffocated their sister after sitting on her. Authorities are far from convinced that this was the cause of the baby’s death.
Do you believe that the Department of Human Services should require parents to provide reasonably insect-free living spaces for their children?
Tags: Cockroach Control, Cockroach Exterminator