Feral Child

[Shangri-laschild]

http://www.tampabay.com/features/hum...icle750838.ece

WARNING: very sad and horrible story of a child.

The genetic mother makes me hate humanity a bit more but the foster parents made me sappy and teary eyed.

[ShinyGreenApple]

God bless the officers and wonderful, wonderful family who adopted her. I'm just angry that this case was left neglected for so long

[Shangri-laschild]

God bless the officers and wonderful, wonderful family who adopted her. I'm just angry that this case was left neglected for so long

And after reading that story, seeing her in the picture at the top actually smiling and not looking distant, you realize how far she's come.

[tropicsgoddess]

That little girl came a long way, it's a shame it too so long for her to be taken away from that neglectful woman who gave birth to her.

[ditchdj]

Humans and animals are both like that growing up. When I got one of my brother-in-law's pups to take home at eight weeks we could tell the pups were never messed with. The pup we took home was scared of me to the point that she would yelp when approached and when I picked her up she'd shake really bad. After a couple days at home and being around us and the other animals in the house she started opening up and after a week stopped shaking and running from us. Now she's perfectly normal and runs up to us and is playful and affectionate.

[StanFlouride]

Thanks for that link, yes it is heart-breaking but it is also, with the tale of the adoptive parents and brother, extremely heart-warming as well.
I was brought to tears several times, first with rage and then with joy and then again with frustration.

[XCashier]

God bless the Lierows for taking in this child. They've got a long hard row to hoe, but I believe their love and patience will pay off and help Dani live a normal life.

Ten-year-old William deserves major kudos, as well. Giving up his bedroom for his little sister, playing with her, working patiently with her...that's going above and beyond. That fine boy's going to be an excellent daddy someday. Gives me hope for the human race.

One of the commenters said that they'd be good candidates for Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. I agree. They definitely deserve a good reward for what they've done.

[LostMyMind]

Sad thing is, plant city not too far from where I live.....

While it's a "city", it's a very rural place, mostly farmers. There is a downtown, but it's not that big and no skyscrapers. Which don't surprise me that you can "disappear" if you wanted to.

I would pray they don't get accepted by Extreme Makeover. The last few jobs they did in Florida didn't come out very well (lots of problems showed up after they left).

[XCashier]

I would pray they don't get accepted by Extreme Makeover. The last few jobs they did in Florida didn't come out very well (lots of problems showed up after they left).

Oh, I didn't know about that. I've only seen the show a couple of times. I figured they could at least add an extra bedroom to the house so William can get one.

[Shangri-laschild]

It doesn't give many details but part of me wonders how much of the older son's mental handicaps were also from the mother ignoring him.

[AnaKhouri]

What I don't get is, these days it is very easy to NOT get pregnant (well, unless you're like my aunt, whose 6 kids were all conceived on different forms of birth control). Condoms and the Pill are abundant and you can even get them free. If you don't want the hassle of raising kids, why the hell are you having them?

(my aunt raised all 6 to be wonderful people, BTW- whether she wanted them or not)

The fact that the mother and brothers visited the girl makes me wonder through- the mother's IQ is said to be borderline average, while the girl's is said to be lower (makes me wonder how they got her to take an IQ test in the first place). Do you think the mother seriously doesn't understand that what she did was wrong?

[Sliceanddice]

im surprised that the mother was able to last so long, if she truely had her own handicaps to deal with...
this a sad story all around...

[XCashier]

The fact that the mother and brothers visited the girl makes me wonder through- the mother's IQ is said to be borderline average, while the girl's is said to be lower (makes me wonder how they got her to take an IQ test in the first place). Do you think the mother seriously doesn't understand that what she did was wrong?

Danielle’s IQ, the report says, is below 50, indicating “severe mental retardation.” Michelle’s is 77, “borderline range of intellectual ability.”

I thought the average IQ was 100, which would make the mother well below average.

I don't know if she didn't understand it was wrong or not, but she needed help as much as her kid does. It is neither normal nor healthy to live in that much filth and vermin. There should have been some intervention a long time ago.

[Misty]

I dunno, maybe I'm too cynical, but whenever I read about a story like this my first reaction is "hoax!"

The photos seem too staged, and the writing...well, it feels like something a college student would write for their creative writing class.

It wouldn't be the first time a heart-wrenching piece of journalism turned out to be fake. I forget the details, but about 20 years ago a reporter for the New York Times (Post?) won a Pulitzer for a story she did about a young boy whose junkie mother got him addicted to heroin. Turned out she made the whole thing up. On top of that, she had also lied about her credentials.

Point is, I feel this story is a fake. I'm probably wrong, but I hope I'm not and Dani is just a normal kid.

[eltf177]

I dunno, maybe I'm too cynical, but whenever I read about a story like this my first reaction is "hoax!"

The photos seem too staged, and the writing...well, it feels like something a college student would write for their creative writing class.

It wouldn't be the first time a heart-wrenching piece of journalism turned out to be fake. I forget the details, but about 20 years ago a reporter for the New York Times (Post?) won a Pulitzer for a story she did about a young boy whose junkie mother got him addicted to heroin. Turned out she made the whole thing up. On top of that, she had also lied about her credentials.

Point is, I feel this story is a fake. I'm probably wrong, but I hope I'm not and Dani is just a normal kid.

It was actually THE WASHINGTON POST. She was arrested for contempt of court for not revealing the location of the child, then it came out she'd made the whole story up. It was also determined she had lied about her credentials. And yes, she was fired.