Mom explains journey that led to abandoning her daughter with disabilities

our child welfare system is supposed to help those abused and neglected but the reveal has learned more than 1400 children were abandoned in 2019 for an entirely different reason tonight reveal investigator rebecca lindstrom begins to explore a broken support system that too often tears families apart [Music] kaley loves to sing [Music] music is an important part of kaylie's life with me [Music] are you right where you belong kaylee if kaley's life were a song the sheet music would be filled with diagnoses instead of notes intellectual disability mitochondrial disorder leaky gut oppositional defiant disorder adhd and ptsd she had seizures doctors believed were caused by a chiari malformation which in layman's terms is like the brain has grown too big for this goal why at 16 kaylee just wanted the song to end intentionally overdosing on two medications [Music] it was then in desperation to get kaylie better access to treatment christina gave up custody of her daughter i felt like i failed her i remember i couldn't get out of bed for a week it was dealing with a child with these issues is exhausting tom rawlings the director of georgia's division of family and children's services says when it comes to abandonment there's really two groups there's a one group that's the little ones first are the parents who just can't cope last year that made up about five percent of the children that came into defects custody they are usually babies or young children with parents who struggle with severe substance abuse or mental health issues then there are children like kaylee that's another 12 percent they want to care for their child but what if that what if their own child is perhaps a danger to other children in the home kaylee now 19 is back at home with her mother as kaylee sings christina writes candidly sharing their experiences on facebook the title to this track keeping kaylee her daughter's developmental and health struggles remain the same as does her dangerous habit of running away i received a phone call from an older woman who had said she's very sick she's been new beaten and raped and we believe she's been in trafficking i never imagined we'd be sitting where we are today [Music] i just don't want my child to die [Music] when it really is that serious that's the story of that's the glory of love this story is part of a 2020 data fellowship with the usc annenberg center for health journalism to learn more about what triggered this investigation and where we plan to go in our series next you can look on 11alive.com

Channel: 11Alive

Views: 10,112

Keywords: investigations, local, news, the-reveal

Id: _c2aJNPw7FY

Length: 3min 36sec (216 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 14 2021