On Tuesday, February 9th, after 19 hours of deliberation, a jury found Rebecca Riley’s mother, Carolyn Riley, guilty of second degree murder in Rebecca’s death in December 2006 due to an overdose of psychiatric medication. It made me sad to read this, mostly because it doesn’t bring Rebecca back and it doesn’t solve the bigger problems raised by this case. The system – including many well meaning and caring individuals – failed Rebecca, and these failures killed her. Rebecca’s mother appears to have been so broken that she could not effectively keep her daughter safe. But that is why we look to the village – to our systems of care, education, social services, family, and neighbors – to keep a safety net under children who are not safe in their parents’ care.

Rebecca’s mother is now officially guilty of murdering her daughter, and the evidence seems to support the verdict. But the lessons to be learned here (and there are many) are not about an individual impaired mom, but rather about the need to really listen to children and to take action to keep them safe especially when it is most difficult to do so, and even if we think we have good reason to believe that “someone else” will take care of it.

I believe the most important take-home lesson is this: Call the “someone else” – discuss the situation, problem-solve together, and then ACT with conviction and persistence. Don’t just wait for the problem to go away or for another part of the system to take care of it. As this case proves, all those someone else’s may drop the ball. The road to caring for complicated families and children is littered with barriers, and we must find or build ways around them when precious lives are at stake.

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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (February 11, 2010)

    Last reviewed: 11 Feb 2010