do child abuse laws go too far?

I honestly have to question how it happened as well. Newborns are a lot sturdier than they get credit for. Quickly pulling a baby away from the shoulder should not be violent enough to cause any problems. Having said that...I think the mom should have contacted a lawyer from the hospital before signing any papers. If he was really innocent she should not have admitted to anything. Now that paper exists and it will be hard to change that. Without the help of a good lawyer, lots of money and possibly a lawsuit against the hospital, they very well may have to ome to terms with the fact that their lives are forever changed. On the other hand, the mom may wish to invest in a specialist for the baby. It is possible that this child does have a rare disorder that causes her to be injured easily. I read a story about a family who had an 18 month long custody battle over their baby because they were accused of abuse when in fact the child had a disorder that caused bones to break easily, bruising from something as innocent as a light grab (like when one would grab the baby's leg during a diaper change). Anyway, they fought the abuse charges and eventually won even though they were both seperated from their baby for a long amount of time while the case was sorted out.

Pulling a child off one's shoulder will not cause a child to stop breathing to the point they had to rush it to the emergency room. Sorry that doesn't happen. There had to be more to it than that. There also had to be visible injuries to the staff to have pushed the issue of filing and report or else they are liable for a lawsuit. Their life is not ruined, in time if he did not hurt the child and there no proof of this, he will be allowed around the baby again. I rather for the child's sake to error on the side of caution.

I find it a little hard to believe that just pulling the child off the shoulder would cause that much of a problem. But I would agree that if it were proven to be an accident, the reaction was too harsh.

I would imagine there is parts of this not known to us and hard to comment without all details he would have had to really shake her to cause her to stop breathing IMO and while care for children is (and should be ) taken seriously they also know when something was a mistake (in general anyway) it doesnt happen for no reason is what im trying to say

Personally I believe that the child abuse laws go too far whatever happened to the right of spanking without having the cops coming for you?

I don't think the child abuse laws go to far. Every time you turn the news on there is something about children, I feel the children should be protected so much is happening to them now. It is better to be safe than to be sorry, I believe there is more to the story, if not I hope they get it solved soon.

well, i don't know whether this case can be considered as child abuse or not... but i don't believe that removing a baby from his shoulder and shook her a bit can make the baby to stop breathing... if he shook the baby too much and cause her to stop breathing, then it is definitely can be considered as abuse and he deserves to be punished... take care and have a nice day...

It's very hard for me to say whether I think this is too harsh or not. I used to work in a hospital and I met one mother who had a five month old son that was in a coma and on life support because her boyfriend shook the baby to get him to stop crying. Her son was probably not going to make it and I basically had to sit and talk with her and listen to her cry over the potential loss of her baby. Although in most cases, babies are not shaken with the intent to harm them, the damage that is done may last for a lifetime. Parents need to be held responsible and the laws are in place to protect the children. I hope that the parents will have appropriate parenting education and eventually be able to be reunited as a family because ultimately that's the most important thing, but only if the children will be completely safe.

The story does seem a little off like others have said. It takes a lot more then swinging a baby down from their shoulder to cause such injuries. If the mother thinks that the father didn't do anything then she should have stood by his side instead of being pressured into filing a false charge. I think that when it comes to infants you can't be to careful. As far as the child abuse laws, i think you can't be to careful. If there is visible injuries, then it needs to be investigated, and hopefully the system works, and proves it is an accident.

Child abuse laws are sometimes to lentient. I've seen parents verbally, mentally and be neglectful and people turn a blind eye to it. I've seen this happen and there isn't a thing you can do about it. It is hard to prove to the authorities so these parents are getting away with it. With friends who have done this it has made being around them difficult. There is nothing worse than seeing a child being hurt by the people who are supposed to love them and keep them safe.

I think more happened than was told to you. As a father of a few children, I can vouche for the fact of how sturdy a child can be. Sometimes when I play with them, I can see the shock in mom's face. In terms of how rough I play and have played with my daughters, my opinion is that he used great force to make that child stop breathing. To be honest, it scares me to think of how much force was used. The child abuse laws definately have it's problems. Sure in many accounts, it's just there to give people the parents the right to but into your business.

I don't think the story is quite right theres not way you could cause a child to stop breathing by removing it off your shoulders unless you hit its head or your hand tilts the babies head too much (thats intentional) No matter what the couple says, the state is just trying to look out for the child.. in case it wasn't an accident... and if it was an accident i don't see why the mother of the child doesn't want to move to another place with the father and start over

I have to agree with a lot of the other comments. It is highly unlikely for a baby to stop breathing in that scenario unless there was some prior medical condition. Most states will not allow an offending parent to have unsupervised visitation. I have worked in several states and had dealings with many child welfare agencies and I have never heard of a person not being allowed to have anymore children.