33 replies to this topic

[Spartan Girl]

I started a similar bad parents thread on the SVU board not too long ago, but on Law and Order there have been some truly horrendous child abuse cases that would make the SVU squad toss their cookies. Here are some off the top of my head:

The parents in "Indifference"/"Fixed": The fact that Cragen said this was the one case that stayed with him speaks volumes.

The mother that had a felon kidnap her own daughter and basically caused her murder just to get back at her ex-husband in "Bitter Fruit. Her: I loved my daughter! Jack: But you hated your ex-husband more. Boom!

The mother that sold her child to a drug dealer in "Slave"

The parents that set up their oldest son to be molested to get money for their younger son's medical treatment in "Smoke"

The father that poisoned his own son and got away with it by suicide in "Flight" -- God, that episode makes me so mad!

The controlling, abusive father in "Tabula Rasa" *shudders*

The father that supplied his son with weapons and basically trained him to be a bully in "Loco Parentis"

The foster mother that killed her difficult daughter in "Bad Faith" because she was "40 years old and entitled to a life."

Dishonorable mentions would have to go to the mother in "Brazil" (who selfishly took her daughter away and wouldn't let her ex-husband and parents have custody) and the father in "Homesick" (who neglected his son from his first marriage to the point that the son poisoned his baby half-brother. Killing babies is awful and unforgivable, but the dad was such an ass that I couldn't bring myself to feel sorry for him).

[Maherjunkie]

I think the kid who killed John Lefsky in "Born Bad" had it bad with the mother who rented him out.

Edited by Maherjunkie, Jul 30, 2012 @ 11:43 AM.

[clear]

Hmm. So, so, many.

I think the father in "Trust" who was so abusive his son shot his classmates on two separate occasions and the father didn't see anything wrong with his actions would be up there.

There's also the father in the season 8 episode "Ritual" who tried to get his daughter to undergo FGM. You don't see many shows touch on that issue, which I don't get because they love to horrify and what's more horrifying than having your genitals cut off?

[Scorpiosrule]

There's also the father in the season 8 episode "Ritual" who tried to get his daughter to undergo FGM.

Wrong. Her father killed her great uncle, to prevent his daughter from being butchered that way. It was her maternal grandmother who wanted it, and her mother, who had also had that done to her, went along with it. Hence the agreement, that while her father was in prison for killing him, that his parents would have primary custody, and she would have supervised visits, and that her maternal grandmother wouldn't be allowed near her.

[Maherjunkie]

Though never seen Logan's mother must have been awful.

[Spartan Girl]

I forgot to add the mother who was so racist that when she found out her ex-husband was African American, she fought NOT to have custody of her son and shot her husband's new wife because she didn't want the secret getting out because of his new baby that they almost gave away for adoption. What a bitch that woman was!

[biakbiak]

Shot her husband's new wife because she didn't want the secret getting out because of his new baby that they almost gave away for adoption. What a bitch that woman was!

She didn't shoot her, they had an argument on the balcony and she pushed her and she fell off the balcony (not to be confused with the episode where the stepdaughter drugged her newly pregnant step mom off the balcony after drugging her with"dazzle"). And the child had already been given away, the mom wanted to challenge the adoption.

[Spartan Girl]

Thanks for pointing those out biakbiak, I meant to say killed her instead of shot her.

And since you mentioned "Dazzled" I think the parents from that episode should be added as a dishonorable mention too. They couldn't see how badly their acrimonious divorce was affecting their children until it was too late.

[SoManyWays]

The scene where the daughter starts yelling at her parents is a must-watch for me.

[clear]

I think the kid who killed John Lefsky in "Born Bad" had it bad with the mother who rented him out.

There were more than one of those in Law & Order-world. The mother in "Slaves" sold her son to a crack dealer.

Wrong. Her father killed her great uncle, to prevent his daughter from being butchered that way. It was her maternal grandmother who wanted it, and her mother, who had also had that done to her, went along with it. Hence the agreement, that while her father was in prison for killing him, that his parents would have primary custody, and she would have supervised visits, and that her maternal grandmother wouldn't be allowed near her.

My bad.

[Bkwrm]

"Aria" with the mother who was so desperate to get her daughter into showbiz she forced the poor girl into pornography.

That scene where she was watching her daughter's SUICIDE tape and SMILING like a proud mom at a piano recital sets off the creep-meter.

[Princess Aldrea]

That scene where she was watching her daughter's SUICIDE tape and SMILING like a proud mom at a piano recital sets off the creep-meter.

That was really creepy and I think if the jury saw that that would decide it for them (they might not have because they were watcing the tape). To be fair, though, it wasn't her suicide tape. It was her cry for help doing a monologue about suicide a few days/weeks before actually killing herself that she hoped would make her mother realize that she had to stop...and the mother was enthralled by the performance. As the DA team at the end said, she probably did think she was a good mother.

ETA: I have to add the mother from "Grief", too. Her daughter was comatose with little hope of recovery after an accident that cost her her unborn baby and her husband and so the mother decided that in order to satisfy her own obsession with a grandchild she was going to pay somebody to rape her daughter. And she knew full well that the pregnancy would probably kill her, too. Comatose and completely unaware of everything that's going on and never finding out about it or not, that was some terrible parenting.

And even before that, both of her parents (including the father who didn't know he funded his daughter's rape) were very uncooperative with the police and quite disinterested in pursuing their daughter's rapist because they just didn't want to deal with it. Admittedly, the ending where the rapist's parents tried to get custody somewhat validates their fears but after everyone found out who the father was they still werne't interested in helping. Presumably the mother was, once again, putting herself first and didn't want to testify for fear that the rapist would spill the story about the payment but what was the father's motive?

Edited by Princess Aldrea, Aug 31, 2012 @ 11:16 PM.

[clear]

He's not a parent in any sense but the biological, but the fertility doctor in season 5 who was getting his infertile couples pregnant by inseminating the mothers with his own sperm, with out the women's knowledge. He had dozens of biological children all over New York. That's pretty bad.

And in that episode, even when she found out what the Dr. did, a mother refused to testify because she didn't want it to get out that she and her husband only had their second child so they could have a kidney donor for their first one.

And of course the mother in "Precious" who had Munchausens by proxy and was killing her babies. And the father that let her do it.

[Maherjunkie]

I think the parents who let their kid die because they were Christian Scientists were pretty loony.

[Spartan Girl]

And of course the mother in "Precious" who had Munchausens by proxy and was killing her babies. And the father that let her do it.

I just saw the end of that episode yesterday. Never fails to repulse me. It's too bad those parents weren't on SVU; somebody needed to punch that so-called father in the face, and Stabler would have been more than happy to oblige.

There are two other bad parent episodes, both of whom stole their children from their adoptive homes, that I'd like to add. One was "Birthright" (I believe), where the black mother was possibly involved in a social worker's murder and kidnapped her child because his foster parents were white, the other (don't remember the episode title) that not only kidnapped his baby and killed one of his foster parents because he didn't want his son raised by same-sex parents.

Those episodes just made me roll my eyes. Who the hell cares if a baby is adopted by gay parents or an African American baby is adopted by white parents? As long as they're a nice, stable, loving family, what difference does it make??

[Scorpiosrule]

And in that episode, even when she found out what the Dr. did, a mother refused to testify because she didn't want it to get out that she and her husband only had their second child so they could have a kidney donor for their first one.

I haven't seen it in a year, but I'm certain they wanted the second child to have a bone marrow transplant, not kidney; that's why the mother was so bitter with the "doctors thinking they know everything" remark. They'd assumed the child was her husband's, and if it had been the bone marrow would most likely have been a match; but it wasn't and their first child died.

I give them a pass. It's not as if they sold their child to a molester, or killed their child.

[dustylil]

I too recently watched the Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy episode and agree that the father got off too lightly. You'd think he was simply a passer-by in that tragic mess. Of all the situations in which the most rigorous form of birth control was required, it was with the intimate life of this couple. And yet, there he was, knocking her up with their fourth child. Sheesh!

Now unless I missed something significant in the storyline, Seventh Season's Deadbeat, is another one where I think there is a strong nominee for a Worst Parent Award.
A mother with a seriously ill small son is trying to find her abusive ex-husband for back child support and to have him tested to determine if he was a suitable donor to provide bone marrow (I believe) for the child. The plot has a number of interesting twists and turns and then towards the very end, we learn the nasty ex was not the child's father after all. Something the mother already knew. The D.A.'s office decides against prosecuting her for crimes ancillary to the ex-husband's death, as I recall, because of the dire state of the child's health. And there the episode ends.

Meanwhile, I am on my sofa asking the television screen what I think are perfectly logical and legitimate questions. Why has this apparently devoted mother been wasting precious time chasing after a man who can't possibly help her dying child? Why hasn't she pursued the boy's biological father (or members of his family if need be) to be tested? Why is nobody rebuking her for her pursuit of revenge rather than doing her utmost for her son?

Edited by dustylil, Aug 24, 2012 @ 1:38 AM.

[Maherjunkie]

Indifference was hard to beat. It was shocking to hear Logan say "There are some women who ask for it." I understand the feeling but still...

[fuzzybear]

How about the very early episode where the young couple forces a miscarriage just so they frame the woman's lover (who they were claiming was the father) and sue him for the loss of the baby. They got pregnate just so they could have a miscarriage scam! Holly hell that's evil!

Or how about the white trash chick who was basically auctioning off her baby to a bunch of people desperate to adopt.

Edited by fuzzybear, Aug 25, 2012 @ 8:24 PM.

[Princess Aldrea]

Actually, they hadn't intended on having a miscarriage because they wanted to get child support although they did plan for the possibility.

[fuzzybear]

Refresh my memory, then why did they cause the miscarriage? I could have sworn it was the BF and not the married lover that hit her to cause her to miscarry.

[Princess Aldrea]

Refresh my memory, then why did they cause the miscarriage? I could have sworn it was the BF and not the married lover that hit her to cause her to miscarry.

When she found out that she was pregnant, she immediately started up an affair with her rich boss in order to be able to claim that he was the father of her child. The boss ended the affair when she said she was pregant and they were trying to get hush money from him. Then the pregnant woman got her boyfriend to attack her so they could extort even more money from the boss as he was supposedly the only one with the motive as the boyfriend was pretending to think it was his baby. There was a good chance he'd go to jail for the attack and he'd definitely have the scandal exposed and have his wife leave him and take a good chunk of his money.

The baby wasn't intended to be miscarried but they knew that brutally beating her would make that a valid possibility and so they planned it out so that the baby would not be old enough to legally count as a person.

If she had stayed pregnant then they likely would have continued to blackmail him for under-the-table child support payments for the next eighteen years and made a fortune. He couldn't even have the paternity investigated without risking his involvement with her getting out.

[fuzzybear]

Thanks! I remember that episode got so convoluted that I had trouble keeping track of what the scamming couple were doing when. Still pretty evil in my book.

[CatsWithAxes]

There are two other bad parent episodes, both of whom stole their children from their adoptive homes, that I'd like to add. One was "Birthright" (I believe), where the black mother was possibly involved in a social worker's murder and kidnapped her child because his foster parents were white, the other (don't remember the episode title) that not only kidnapped his baby and killed one of his foster parents because he didn't want his son raised by same-sex parents.

That first episode is actually called "Custody" - it's from season 6. (I think "Birthright" is the one about the doctor who was sterilizing young women who she thought were unfit parents.) The second episode, about the gay adoptive couple, is "Phobia" from season 11.

I hated the biological mother in "Custody" - she was a crack addict who IMO didn't really care about what was best for her kid, even after she got clean. To add insult to injury in that story, her defense attorney was none other than Paul Robinette, out of character in full race-baiting mode.

A mother with a seriously ill small son is trying to find her abusive ex-husband for back child support and to have him tested to determine if he was a suitable donor to provide bone marrow (I believe) for the child. The plot has a number of interesting twists and turns and then towards the very end, we learn the nasty ex was not the child's father after all. Something the mother already knew. The D.A.'s office decides against prosecuting her for crimes ancillary to the ex-husband's death, as I recall, because of the dire state of the child's health. And there the episode ends.

Meanwhile, I am on my sofa asking the television screen what I think are perfectly logical and legitimate questions. Why has this apparently devoted mother been wasting precious time chasing after a man who can't possibly help her dying child? Why hasn't she pursued the boy's biological father (or members of his family if need be) to be tested? Why is nobody rebuking her for her pursuit of revenge rather than doing her utmost for her son?

I don't think the mother in "Deadbeat" had ever been looking for the absentee ex-husband to be a transplant donor - she just wanted the back child support money so she could pay for her kid's medical bills. The ex had taken it on himself to get a physical and had a test done which the mother claimed showed that he wasn't a match. But Jamie Ross realized that the test didn't show whether he would be a match or not, but what it did show was that he was not the kid's biological father. The mother knew that and that thus her entire claim for back child support would be invalidated. That was what set the murder in motion (I believe it was her father who did the actual murder).

I'm not sure if they ever explained why she wasn't looking for the real father. Maybe she didn't know who it was, or she did know but also knew he didn't have any money, or maybe that he was dead (which would explain why she wasn't pursuing him as a donor).

[SoManyWays]

You'd think he was simply a passer-by in that tragic mess.

This assumes that he was fully aware of what his wife was doing, that he could bring himself to believe it, that he could admit to himself what was going on. Never underestimate the power of denial.

[Princess Aldrea]

He certainly seemed aware when he found out she was pregnant again and he told them he knew she killed Emily when he saw her standing over the crib. And of he didn't think it was murder, why the cover-up?

Edited by Princess Aldrea, Aug 26, 2012 @ 3:25 PM.

[dustylil]

This assumes that he was fully aware of what his wife was doing, that he could bring himself to believe it, that he could admit to himself what was going on. Never underestimate the power of denial.

He was fully aware of the last death. He saw his wife with the pillow she used to suffocate the baby just after she had killed the child.

I'm not sure if they ever explained why she wasn't looking for the real father. Maybe she didn't know who it was, or she did know but also knew he didn't have any money, or maybe that he was dead (which would explain why she wasn't pursuing him as a donor).

No it wasn't explained why she wasn't looking for the real father (and from the conversation about her fling it didn't appear like it was a one-night stand). But it wasn't just money for medical expenses that was needed. It was also a donation of bodily tissue (bone marrow, I believe) from a close family member that was also required - and quite urgently. If she had the resources to track down her ex, then surely she could have been on the hunt for the boy's actual father (or failing him, a family member) to get tested in order for o the child to get life saving help. I just thought her priorities were way out of whack. Pursuing revenge on the ex-husband (who would likely demand proof the child was his before ponying up any money) vs going after real assistance for a dying child.

Edited by dustylil, Aug 26, 2012 @ 3:26 PM.

[CatsWithAxes]

It was also a donation of bodily tissue (bone marrow, I believe) from a close family member that was also required - and quite urgently. If she had the resources to track down her ex, then surely she could have been on the hunt for the boy's actual father (or failing him, a family member) to get tested in order for o the child to get life saving help. I just thought her priorities were way out of whack. Pursuing revenge on the ex-husband (who would likely demand proof the child was his before ponying up any money) vs going after real assistance for a dying child.

Right, but it's possible that she had tried to find the biological father, to no avail, or else she knew he or any relations of his weren't an option for whatever reason, so when that avenue was exhausted, trying to get the money to cover the expenses was her next best shot. The question of whether she had tried to contact the biological father never came up, but that doesn't necessarily mean she didn't try. If the guy was married with a family of his own, he might have wanted nothing to with her. Of course it's also possible that she just didn't want the kid to know that the person he thought was his father wasn't really his father, and so she didn't pursue it, in which case her priorities were out of whack. But I got the impression that she loved the kid enough to have tried to save him.

As I remember it, she just wanted the ex to come through with the money she was claiming he owed her. But when the ex found out that the son (whom I don't think he had any idea might not be his) needed a transplant, he decided to get tested to see if he could be a donor. The mother and grandfather realized that he then would likely find out that the kid wasn't his, and thus that they'd never get the money, so the grandfather decided to kill the ex (I'm not sure if the mother was actually in on that decision or not).

Edited by CatsWithAxes, Aug 27, 2012 @ 1:44 PM.

[Princess Aldrea]

If he was dead then why would he be liable for the money?

[clear]

We're just speculating now, since none of this was in the episode but if you die without a will doesn't any money you have go to your child? As far as the deadbeat dad and any family he had knew, the kid was his biological son. No one would challenge it.