Raising Awareness For Victims Of Munchausen By Proxy
Most people know that our team originally came together for our work on the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case before we branched out into other cases and projects. We learned a lot about Munchausen By Proxy which is now called Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another. We also learned about many more of these cases — and while there’s no denying that Gypsy Rose Blanchard suffered abuse at the hands of her mother, we learned about many more children that have suffered even more and in many cases were killed by their mothers. Cases like those of Garnett Spears, whose mom Lacey made him sick for his entire short life until she poisoned him with salt when he was only 5, causing his death.
We’ve spoken to some of the parents in these cases, we’ve spoken to some of the experts on Munchausen By Proxy, and over time we’ve all become very passionate about raising awareness of Munchausen By Proxy. This month is Fancy’s birthday month and she created a Facebook fundraiser to raise money for The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Their mission is to improve society’s response to the abuse and neglect of its children. It’s an amazing organization that does so much and deserves all the support in the world. Going forward, you’ll see more from us about Munchausen By Proxy. We’ll dive deep into some of the worst cases, and with the help of some of the top experts in their fields, we’ll explain exactly what Munchausen By Proxy is, why it happens, how to recognize the signs and how we can help prevent these cases from happening.
One of our goals is for medical professionals, teachers, and mandated reporters to receive more thorough training on how to recognize the signs of abuse in Munchausen By Proxy cases so that they can feel confident reporting anything suspicious they come across. In Gypsy’s case, out of over 100 doctors that she saw in the first 19 years of her life, only 1 of them ever mentioned suspecting Munchausen By Proxy in his records. He never reported his suspicions because he didn’t think he had enough proof to be believed. If more people recognized the signs then we could make strides in stopping the abuse and preventing another case like Dee Dee and Gypsy from happening. All mandated reporters need to feel confident reporting suspected abuse. After all, the worst-case scenario would be that they were wrong and a child isn’t being abused.
To hear about our journey through the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case check out the first season of our podcast The Good Wives Guide To True Crime. I’ll give you a fair warning that it’s very raw and filled with emotion. For more true crime visit us at Murder By Design.
Originally published at http://madgingerentertainment.com.
