Appeal: Keep 'starving mother' away from kids
State Prosecutor's Office petitions Supreme Court against Jerusalem District Court's decision not to keep woman suspected of abusing her toddler son in custody until legal proceedings are completed. 'Mother can't be trusted,' State claims
The State claimed in the appeal that the mother was highly dangerous and that there was reason to believe that she was suffering from Munchausen syndrome and may hurt one of her four children, and therefore she should be kept away from them.
In Wednesday's appeal, the State Prosecutor's Office claimed that the mother could not be trusted and that the District Court made a mistake by not drawing the right conclusion from its own rulings that she is dangerous, that the fear that she is suffering from the syndrome may be confirmed and that she may hurt her children.
The State asked the Supreme Court to order the adoption of an arrest alternative suggested by the Probation Service in its reviews, which will lead to the mother being physically removed from her children. The State said that if there was no alternative, the court should order the police to keep the woman in custody until the legal proceedings against her are completed.
According to the State, in her conduct the mother is acting against the court's orders and thwarting the welfare services' activities. The State claimed that only separating the mother from her children, while allowing her to visit them under supervision, will provide a suitable response to her dangerousness.
'Children won't be hurt by absence'
The appeal added that the District Court made a mistake by giving more weight to the estimation that removing the mother from her kids will hurt the children. According to welfare experts, the State said, separating between the abusive parent and the minor in such cases allows the latter to start dealing with the in injury.
The State Prosecutor's Office stressed in its appeal that for about a year and a half the mother was "present and absent" from her home, as she had been most of the time at her son's bedside at the hospital.
At the same time, the State said, the children were looked after by their grandmother – the woman's mother, and therefore the court must give limited weight to the estimate that keeping the mother away from her children would significantly hurt them.
The State concluded by saying that the District Court's solution does not provide an answer to welfare services' claim in regards to the supervision which could be provided in a situation in which the mother lives with her children.
