‘Hot Sauce’ Mom Convicted of Child Abuse

Submitted by Matt on Wed, 2011-08-24 15:42

Story here. Excerpt:

'Jessica Beagley, the 36-year-old Alaska mother who forced her 7-year-old son to ingest hot sauce and take a cold shower as punishment for allegedly lying about various transgressions at school, has been convicted of misdemeanor child abuse.

Beagley’s case has stirred up a debate about when parental discipline crosses the line into illegality.

She was charged with a crime after she sent a video of the hot sauce/cold shower punishment to the Dr. Phil show and later appeared on the program. The mother of six argued in court that she had to resort to a serious punishment method, because her son, adopted from Russia, suffered from a disorder that made him prone to misbehave.

After deliberating for a day, the jury convicted Beagley of misdemeanor child abuse, the Anchorage Daily News reports. She faces up to a year in prison and is due to be sentenced Monday.

Beagley stood blank-faced as the verdict was read, according to the Daily News. She did not respond to questions as she left the courtroom with her husband Gary, an Anchorage police officer.'

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Comments

I have mixed feelings about the verdict.

I am familiar with adopting kids with problems. Some of these situations are very difficult for people unfamiliar with behavior problems in children to grasp. Some of these children can not reason, have low IQ's, and have severe psychiatric problems

However, I am not sure the mother had training on how to cope, and her methods did not look good or effective. Perhaps she needed some parenting classes.

This situation brings up many concerns such as the adoption policies in Russia. Most of their orphanages are filled with babies addicted to crack and have been abandoned, abused or neglected, which is the crux of the behavior and psychiatric problems, and they give American adoptive parents no warnings. This mother had six kids! (I assume all adopted) that is way too many and should have been a red flag that she would be unable to care for children with special needs as extreme as this. Russia seems to be giving kids away to anyone who applies.

My other concern is how much we want the government to control our parenting. I think our government could have intervened by offering the mother support and doing a full psychiatric evaluation on the boy to be sure he is getting the help he needs, but convicting her for child abuse might be an extreme.

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Submitted by Kris on Wed, 2011-08-24 17:15

I agree with you on a great deal of this. Discipline is a very difficult and individualized process. There is no single solution, and sometimes, corporal punishments are a valid response (IMHO), so long as it is in a controlled manner, and reserved for those extreme, rare occasions. I often think of it as almost ritualized (anything short of that can result in a degradation into abuse).

But with that said, discipline should also be a private matter, and sending the video in to Dr Phil and going on the show... She set her self up for the charges.

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Submitted by Kratch on Wed, 2011-08-24 17:29

> "...sending the video in to Dr Phil and going on the show... She set her self up for the charges."

Agreed. The good news is with all the attention it sounds like the family is getting the help they need.

I don't follow Dr. Ill, but I believe she sent in the video because she was desperate for parenting help (the theme of the show that day?). She adopted the boy and his twin when they were five and has been unable to emotionally bond with them due to their psychiatric problems.

Also no matter how bad things appear on the video, I can assure you his home life with his adoptive family is much better compared to life at his Russian orphanage.

I have a 14 year old neighbor adopted from Russia. He has come to play with my boys despite the age difference. I had thought he was home schooled because he is home during the day, then the mother informed me that no school will take him cuz of his behavior and psychiatric issues. She went on to inform me that she appreciated me being kind to him, but that he should not be alone with my boys as he has many "problems". She went on to describe him being born addicted to heroin, lacked physical affection as a baby in the orphanage, he now suffers from toruettes, schizophrenia, and other stuff. The family is getting him the best care they can, but so often profeesionals don't even know how to deal with these issues.

These situations contain many issues that are important to me such as adoption, mother's responsibilities during pregnancy, compassion for those that behave as a result of their un-escapable influences, etc.

It is truly sad what is happening in Russia. Perhaps I am wrong, but I get the impression that drug addiction, AIDS, prostitution, child abandonment, etc are huge problems. I have heard previously that the abortion rate outpaced the birth rate, now I find out that when babies are born they are often addicted to drugs and abandoned. What the hell is happening over there?

Here is another article about DR. Phill, hot sauce mom and Russian orphanages:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/08/23/why_couldn_t_hot_sauce_mom_jessica_beagley_find_help_for_her_ado.html

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Submitted by Kris on Thu, 2011-08-25 05:11