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PowPowPowerCrystal t1_j1xd1tv wrote

The story is awful but the poverty-porn media coverage and promotion here makes me extra sad.

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Majestic-Alfalfa-754 t1_j1xhrp2 wrote

It looks like the name isn't the only thing Dennis gave her. But he got his shit together eventually.

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petergriffin999 t1_j1xjsz1 wrote

This makes no sense. I've been told on good authority (dumbest_ogre) that it's the police who are to blame.

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smdifansmfjsmsnd t1_j1xt7is wrote

I see some comments on Facebook pouring out sympathy for this girl but I’m sorry, I don’t care how bad your circumstances are - you do whatever’s best and necessary for the well-being of the child. There were alternatives available including the safe haven law. Instead she left this premature newborn baby unclothed and exposed to harsh winter temperatures. She does not deserve this child and can only imagine the poor life it’s suffer if it were to remain in her care.

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FaustusC t1_j1xxs7h wrote

Wasn't this same reddit jerking themselves into a lather that it was the police being fascists or something and the woman who left a baby to freeze could do no wrong?

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smartest_kobold t1_j1yalgy wrote

>According to an affidavit, Eckersley called 911 around 12:30 a.m. on Monday to report she had given birth in the woods of Manchester.

>At around 1:30 a.m., Eckersley was placed back into an ambulance to warm up. While speaking with an EMT, she said the baby was on the Goffstown side of the footbridge and should still be inside her tent, the report said.

>She said she gave birth around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, an affidavit said, but her boyfriend could not find a pulse on the child.

>One of the officers noted a lot of blood in a bed with blankets and a trail of blood from the bed area. The tent, a tarp, had items strewn inside and on the ground.

A lot going on here.

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gmcgath t1_j1yp1f0 wrote

I don't click on obvious clickbait links, especially when they read like a passage from a bad novel and show no relevance to NH.

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Sufficient-Opposite3 t1_j1yqfuc wrote

Super sad story. I hope that baby is okay. Shocking that he survived. Mental illness and drug addiction are no joke and often go hand in hand. Family members can try to intervene but there's not a lot you can really do. This woman is an adult and made her own decisions.

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Delicious_Battle_703 t1_j1yuf5i wrote

Also her father is Dennis Eckersley, it's not like this story started with the vicious cycle of poverty. I think most people no matter how poor would at least find a way to drop the baby off somewhere warm. She's obviously extremely mentally unwell.

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HPenguinB t1_j1yztnz wrote

"This is horrible!"
How do you fix this? Social programs and taxes to fund them.
"TAXATION IS THEFT!"

Pick a lane.

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TreePointOhhhhh t1_j1z3s5l wrote

Yesterday: this obviously happened bc Russia invaded Ukraine. If we don’t send Ukraine another $100b, more of these poor babies are going to be left in the cold. What kind of monster wouldn’t care about babies!!?? If you have a problem sending a trillion to saint Zelensky, you hate babies and love Putin! Oh, and the baby needs you to pay for high speed rails and free marijuana too 😂

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hyzerlady t1_j1z69xr wrote

It’s a miracle the baby survived. Born three months premature, drug addicted, and left in the cold on a 15 degree day.

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TreePointOhhhhh t1_j1zfysx wrote

Because obviously social programs and higher taxes have proven effective nationwide. I mean look at places like LA, SF, NY, and Baltimore. Most abundant social programs and highest tax rates and the results are glorious! I mean they’re like totally like utopias, with zero crimes and like zero poverty or homelessness. Like, are you like totally blind, or something? It’s like just science!

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glitteryunicornlady t1_j1zlive wrote

Okay I guess I gotta say it. I know everyone is different, but I'm so mad at this woman. I gave birth to my son on December 26, 9 years ago. He was also 4lbs at birth. I was homeless for half of the time i was pregnant. I was a drug addict when I found out I was pregnant. I was also 26. I live in a small area, but I utilized EVERY MF RESOURCE I could find, and got housing, parenting classes, addiction treatment and counseling. Life has not been super easy, but I did everything I could for him. Right now, we're waiting for family to show up for his 9th birthday party, in a warm home, and I work for a recovery program. Yes, she needs help, but people can also express their opinion on this and I agree with them. I just hope that baby is okay.

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[deleted] t1_j1zpjg3 wrote

She’s clearly incapable of taking care of herself, never mind the baby. This is the consequence of society’s total abandonment of the severely mentally ill. I know the conservatives were really hoping they’d just die of exposure before giving birth, but that’s not how it always works.

I’m genuinely not sure whether society is sicker than she is, though. How the fuck do we just let a pregnant woman with severe mental illness sleep in a tent in the blistering cold and act like that’s her choice? Fucking ridiculous.

She’s unfit to stand trial, I guarantee it. As unfit as a 13 year old would be in the same situation.

And then we have these disgusting fake news reporters making a spectacle out of a horrific tragedy. I hate everything about this.

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[deleted] t1_j1zwhm8 wrote

I’d say completely impossible. I‘d add to your list that she’d need to demonstrate that she has support from close friends and family. She clearly did not have that a month ago. It’s a gargantuan task for her to just live independently, or live in a group home, at this point, never mind mend those relationships in order to take care of a child.

From what’s been reported so far, this is not a case of drug addiction. Weed and coke don’t make someone floridly psychotic by themselves. So she likely has some underlying psychotic disorder. Without social support, who is going to make sure she doesn’t kill the child if she has another episode? The baby didn’t have a pulse when they found it this time…

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[deleted] t1_j1zy08j wrote

As horrible and sensationalist as that is, it’s probably word salad from someone suffering from schizophrenia, not a statement of criminal intent. If you read between the lines of the article, and avoid taking the outrage bait, it’s clear this person was rambling nonsense. Constantly contradicting themselves.

Given the street conditions in Manchester, it’s disturbing that a police detective isn’t familiar enough with psychiatric disorders to recognize that you shouldn’t leak such things to the press. FFS. Was a social worker involved at any point in the last six months? It seems the cops knew there was a pregnant woman at the camp for quite some time…

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[deleted] t1_j1zym6b wrote

It’s definitely a crude tool IMO, but the ends absolutely justify the means. She gets a mental health evaluation and is likely found not guilty by reason of insanity, and the baby is removed from her custody.

It never should have gotten to this point, though. We shouldn’t leave psychotic people who are incapable of caring for themselves, out in the cold to freeze. I don’t give a fuck what drugs she was using. You’d turn to drugs if you were schizophrenic and homeless too. I don’t care if they “choose” to refuse assistance either. They’re not capable of making that decision. Shelter is a human right.

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-cochise t1_j200c5z wrote

Her family has money, the issue is that nobody has any authority to intervene until something this blatant occurs. And if they did, long-term in-patient care is close to nonexistent now.

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[deleted] t1_j204knr wrote

Poverty certainly exacerbates mental illness. Hard to imagine someone with severe mental illness remaining stable when they’re unhoused. But money by itself doesn’t cure mental illness if you’re too far gone to try to get help. Just look at Kanye.

We also have no way of knowing whether she’s seen a dime of her dad’s money since turning 18. He may be unwilling to help her. He may have disowned her. He may have abused her. She may have abused him.

Frankly, that’s all irrelevant. Whatever safety net she had from her family, she obviously fell through them. Society has an obligation to catch people like this. Housing First is morally and fiscally correct policy, but in this case, I’m sure that would not have mattered one bit. Perhaps it would have gotten a social worker involved sooner that could have recognized she needed to be hospitalized, but there’s obviously a deeper problem here than poverty.

BuT wHo WiLl PaY fOr It? Bleats the sheep, who sees nothing wrong with paying $80k a year to incarcerate them.

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farmingmaine t1_j20ht53 wrote

This country has given up on mental illness. The leaders of this country and corporations are severely mentally ill. They are unable to lead. Religious leaders are mentally ill. I am the only sane one here. Peace be with you. And peace be with that girl and everyone suffering like she is. Over and out.

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pats-fan-till-death t1_j20sfrc wrote

Former Sox pitcher. Used to go see him pitch Sundays when the bleachers at Fenway were like $6.

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Majestic-Alfalfa-754 t1_j20ycpb wrote

Isn't it hilarious how we get down voted because a millionaire let's his pregnant homeless daughter give birth in frigid temps, but we are the 'big pricks.' Want to hear the best part? I golf with former Red Sox players all the time, and a most of them have stories about what a douche Eckersley used to be. I'm happy he got his shit together, but all these people defending him just because they're Red Sox fans is laughable.

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grubba_tuba t1_j2140ci wrote

This is horribly sad all around. I’d say this is why we need legal and safe abortion, but clearly this woman wouldn’t have been in her right mind enough to get one. She wasn’t in her right mind when she got pregnant, or through the whole pregnancy. I know this baby will get the help it needs but then who will care for it? I’m not religious but I pray to whatever in the world that this baby doesn’t end up in some foster care situation.

As for the bio mom, she is unfit to have the baby (obviously) but she won’t get the help she needs. She’ll be punished, and that makes sense, but that won’t make her a better person - for herself, or this baby. Unfortunately it is very difficult, if not impossible, to come out of addiction this bad. She won’t change until she wants to and in her state, that ain’t gonna happen.

I’m so sorry this whole situation has happened. As a new parent, it breaks my heart that this baby was already born into a world of chaos. It didn’t ask for this, it doesn’t deserve this.

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Visible-Education-98 t1_j21ulkr wrote

For Chrissakes New Hampshire, get your shit together. Homeless women giving birth in the woods, babies in your State custody going missing, WTF? I guess your “live FREE or die” motto is taking things to a whole new level.

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Visible-Education-98 t1_j21x530 wrote

Now imagine the mental health he’ll that she lives in. Obviously, she needs treatment and probably has for a long time. I can see why you’re angry, this is a horrific story, however, let us direct our anger where it truly belongs and that is this Country’s lack of adequate mental health services.

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AnythingToAvoidWork t1_j255c5k wrote

Stories like this are why abortions need to be legal.

Nobody clutching their pearls in here actually gives a shit about the baby. They just want their fundie justice porn and forget about the new orphan.

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Rixtertech t1_j273ddt wrote

Wow. People experiencing hypothermia and perhaps especially mentally ill people experiencing hypothermia rave, can be combative or lethargic or both by turns, give non-sensical or hostile responses to questions and generally seem dysfunctional? Add shock, blood loss and possible addiction or intoxication issues, lack of adequate shelter and food over long periods of time, and their responses in a catastrophic situation don't match your standards? Who-da-thunk-it. Good job of virtue-shaming there, pretty standard for patch posts. As soon as they stopped "interrogating" her in the freezing cold and brought her into a warm ambulance she fairly quickly regained her composure and told her captors -exactly- where the child was. This doesn't fit the cruel lurid narrative that many are favoring, so they don't mention it.

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Rixtertech t1_j274n8y wrote

Trillions for war, pennies for the rest, from health care to schools and school lunches, infrastructure, jobs, housing, legal aid, consumer protection, you name it. If any history is still being written 200 years from now we will be remembered as a greedy, warlike empire that was merciless to the weakest among us while lining the pockets of our "defense" industries as if they were our True Gods.

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Rixtertech t1_j278rhr wrote

Our local for-profit (!) shelter nearest to where this tragedy occurred only has 148 beds, completely full every night, with some overflow going to a nearby "christian" run building where anyone lucky enough to be let in the door must sit all night in folding chairs, -never- lie down, and doze as best they are able while all the "losers" in this game of Malicious Chairs freeze outside in tents on the sidewalk outside the shelter or various hiding places in the darkness of the city and outlying areas that the authorities call "camps" but are really just people desperately trying to improvise what shelter they can while being constantly hunted by police, local government and property owners. Manchesters city government actually has a "Help Us Hunt Down The Homeless" (my term) webpage where you can inform on homeless people you see trying to survive outside. No, I'm not making this up. They claim they will do "outreach" but somehow the "outreach" usually quickly devolves into "Blue Lights and Pepper Spray outreach", tents being slashed, penniless people being ticketed, desperate freezing people being chased away to seek another place to hide, etc. If you are at the christian "warming station" you must sign a sheet to patiently queue up to use the single bathroom. There are two bathrooms but they say they are not sufficiently staffed to allow both to be used. If you go outside for any reason you are not allowed back in. While they have their reasons for some of these rules and they certainly aren't getting much help from the city, the overall effect is hurtful to the psyche and body and the willful inadequacy of the state and cities response to overwhelming human need and tragedy is resulting in multiple needless deaths at all times of year but especially winter, of course. There are hundreds trying not to freeze to death out in the open every night in Manchester alone. The heartless among us say they "don't want to come inside", "don't want help". Spend a night with the bedbugs, lice, scabies, flu, tuberculosis, Covid & general indifference at the shelter and you'll understand why some are reluctant to go in there even when they have the opportunity. It's shameful, and our politicians, police and a sizable minority of citizens seem fine with it... until it's their relative that freezes to death. Heck, some of them are probably fine with it even then. More than anything else, we have an Empathy Shortage in this country at least as severe as our housing shortage.

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Rixtertech t1_j279fni wrote

Yep. Extreme cold, blood loss, etc etc and a probably hypothermic young woman who even in her no doubt disturbed mental state told them exactly where her baby was as soon as someone remembered to have the human decency to have her sit down and be warmed. 10 bucks says it was an EMT or fireman that made it happen.

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Rixtertech t1_j279u9j wrote

I hear that in Mass relatives can force a family member to receive mental health services against their will. In NH this is not the case and -might- be why she remained up here, if part of her condition had caused her to be avoidant.

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Rixtertech t1_j27agox wrote

Yes, as someone else mentioned our state hospital in NH is a shadow of what it used to be even as the state has grown and the need with it. We do have cages and cells for the convicted though, and mentally ill people locked in them right on the old hospital grounds. Bty of course all that only comes into play -after- a tragedy occurs, becuz 'murica.

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Rixtertech t1_j27asou wrote

Because we don't burn, stone or drown the mentally ill as much anymore as we used to do, though I'd keep an eye on Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Florida and a number of other red states if you're worried we're not doing enough of that sort of thing.

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Rixtertech t1_j27d36e wrote

That's why it's remained popular - the saying is utterly devoid of any semantic content when used generically other than to evoke a sort of prickly rancor. NH-ites usually think it was coined on the fly by General Stark but WikiP says it was already a popular phrase of the French revolution. No matter who came up with it, it is a revolutionary and militaristic call to arms and vigilance, not a fully formed let's use-this-every-day to hurt others and glorify ourselves lifestyle and governance philosophy that the societally-challenged often try to present it as today.

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lendluke t1_j28klpx wrote

I pick the "taxation is theft" lane. Voluntary donations as the solution, but I've stopped giving money to beggars. Giving money to drug addicts enables them, other charities are the solution.

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Sufficient-Opposite3 t1_j28o2mb wrote

You could be right. There's a story in the Globe today where the family states she's been on the streets in NH since she was 20. And also that she had been hospitalized prior to that. In MA, if it's determined you are a danger to yourself or others, you can be put on a 72 hour hold. But, you can sign paperwork that says you will be exercising your right to leave in 72 hours. I can also tell you from personal experience (having gone thru this with my child), the patient will not get much help while they are hospitalized. It's a baby sitting service. The benefit is the individual is kept alive for another 72 hours. Then it's back to the family having to figure it out.

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