Mom rightly feared her daughter dying alone and abused
When you have a child, any child, yes, you worry what will become of this child upon your death. And when this child is severely handicapped and you are its sole caregiver and guardian, I can’t even imagine the worry on your shoulders.
In the case of Bonnie Liltz, shewas struggling with her own medical problems. She most likely knew she would not live long enough to always be able to give her daughter, Courtney, loving good care. So, yes, she worried aboutwhat would become of her daughter.
The reality is that if Bonnie Liltz had died back then, Courtney would have been sent to a cut- rate nursing home at best. Shewould not get loving care. Shewould be lucky to get minimum care. I have been in such nursing homes.
Bonnie Liltz imagined her daughter dying lonely and miserably, and I can see why she did what she did. The state had no business prosecuting her for a crime. She should have been sent to a mental facility.
Where was Access Living, the disabilities- rights organization, when Bonnie Liltz needed them? Where was anyone from any organization to tell her that if she died, her daughter would be lovingly taken care of?
Fact is, there are not enough caseworkers, and there is not enough funding. We present a pie- in- the- sky ideal, but home- based and community- based placements for people like Courtney— with professional caretakers — barely exist. Parents have to fight to get their child into one.
Bonnie Liltz adopted a child that no one else would have adopted, and she gave her child loving care for years. This is a child who could not feed herself or speak and functioned at the level of a toddler. Howwould Courtney have told anyone if she had been abused in a nursing home?
Truth is, many of us would have done the same thing Bonnie Liltz did if we were in that position. That’s the truth of it. Face it.