She’s not going to lose all rights that fast. My wife’s mom left her alone for days as a toddler drinking toilet water and allowed her to be abused by her johns (no idea if she sold her or was just too fucking high to put a stop to it) and it took years for her to lose all rights. Parents are given a lot of chances to get their shit together even when anyone else would look at them and know that wasn’t ever going to happen.
That’s why when I hear stories about people getting their kids taken away for playing alone in the back yard or walking up the street, I suspect there’s a lot more to those stories. That’s a huge amount of effort and they aren’t going to do that shit over something so minor. But of course the government is going to be all no comment about those things so we only ever hear the side saying how ridiculous it is. That’s right - it’s ridiculous. So why would you believe it went down that way?
I dunno. Kids get such a fucking raw deal. They have no choice who they’re born to and even lots of well intentioned parents fuck it up, to say nothing of people like this crazy fucking bitch in the article.
It really just depends on the department and agent. Some are willing to go through the effort, but not all.
There’s also no shortage of morons who believe so strongly in the ideal of “family” that they think a kid with an abusive family member is better off than a kid with a kind stranger.