Mom not charged for dumping disabled daughter at bar
Lynn Cameron (Caryville Police Department)
Abandoning a child who needs help is never right, but it’s not always illegal.
A Chicago-area woman who drove to Tennessee to dump off her mentally disabled 19-year-old daughter will not be charged, police said Tuesday in The Knoxville News Sentinel.
Police in the tiny town of Caryville had tried since June 28 to figure out the identity of the young woman. A break in the case came 10 days later when a Chicago-area resident recognized the daughter on a missing persons website and alerted authorities, who contacted the mom – Eva Cameron, 45, of Algonquin, Ill.
The mom traveled back to Tennessee to speak to police, not to pick up her daughter, Lynn Cameron, who has the mental capacity of a toddler and could not identify herself or her mother.
“[The mom] said that she did not want her, that she couldn’t take care of her and that she wasn’t going to take her back to Illinois,” said Caryville police Assistant Chief Stephanie Smith in The Chicago Tribune.
“She let her out to use the bathroom and drove away,” Smith said Tuesday. “She said she just couldn’t handle her anymore.”
Cameron, who has another mentally disabled child, cannot be charged because the daughter she abandoned is legally an adult.
Cameron told The Northwest Herald in suburban Chicago that she drove her daughter to Tennessee because it has the “No. 1 health care system in the United States of America” and she wanted the best for her child. She also said her church directed her there because it is a more Baptist area.
Tuesday, the daughter became an official ward of the state of Tennessee.
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155 comments Add your comment
And?
July 11th, 2012
12:21 pm
Typical baptist.
Allison
July 11th, 2012
12:27 pm
So very sad. As a mother, I could never do something like that. I don’t care how hard it is. She should be ashamed of herself. I guess they should be on the lookout for her other child being dumped too since that child is mentally disabled also. Stories like these just make me sick.
mom
July 11th, 2012
12:29 pm
I have a 18 year old mentally disabled child who will never be able to live on his own. We get no support from the government. We get much valuable support from our church. They provide a safe place for him to belong and provide much needed respite and emotional support for our family, something that no government could ever provide. The church and other charitable organizations are willing to help families like mine. The only thing that I expect the government to do is to allow and encourage these organizations to provide this type of support.
This story is incredibly tragic, but until you have fully walked in her shoes and understand what it is like to carry the burden of emotional and financial responsibility of a severely disabled child, you cannot completely understand.
Sad
July 11th, 2012
12:32 pm
@Jesus Christ crushes perverted NWO, DBMs – YOU’RE A DANG IDIOT! People like you keep racism going. WTH does that have to do with the article. African American women aren’t the only ones having abortions.
This is such a sad story. I wonder why she kept the other disabled child and not this one. Wow who just puts their child out like garbage. Yes she is legally an adult but with the mental capacity of a toddler. Wow I am at a loss for words.
Old Dawg
July 11th, 2012
12:36 pm
Soulless!
Sad
July 11th, 2012
12:36 pm
I agree that no one knows how she felt. My issue is why would you drop her off at a bar? Someone could have been drunk and hurt her. Why not the police station or the hospital?
Madea
July 11th, 2012
12:37 pm
If a person has the mental capacity of a toddler, she is NOT an adult!!! What if she left the bar and walked into traffic? Baked to death (dehydrated) in the hot sun? Got raped? Was prostituted? How irresponsible of the mother!!! Why didn’t she simply turn her over to authorities properly? Where is human decency?!!! Hope they don’t show the “mom’s” face on TV. She might get beat up. Or worse.
CJ
July 11th, 2012
12:38 pm
Let’s not be eager to pass judgment on this lady. I’m not saying it is right what she did but she has another child to care for who requires special care. What would we have done? You or I may have done things differently but who’s to say.
Light
July 11th, 2012
12:50 pm
While I’m in disagreement with the mother’s actions, I think her actions says something larger about care in developmental disabilities and access to adequate, appropriate, and AFFORDABLE care. It sounds like the mother has more than she can handle and being at the end of the rope did what she thinks will be a help to her daughter. As a society, we are so quick to judge but not willing to work collectively towards solutions so that we ALL do well and function in society. We spend money on wars, house and feed criminals, support welfare recipients for extended periods of time, but we discard those who can’t take of themselves because of developmental disabilities, and unfortunately, the parent/caretaker often don’t have the resources/income/insurance to provide for them and family can be selfish and think it’s not their problem. But the reality is that we are all connected in some form or fashion, and it is our problem. I’m sorry this unfortunate situation happened to the daughter and sorry that the mother felt this was her last option.
Bluto
July 11th, 2012
12:52 pm
I would rather her drop her off somewhere (other than a bar) , than keep her and not give her the care she needs.