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Probation: 3 deceased children found huddled together after being left alone & a house fire broke out

Sugar Cookie

Sugar Cookie

Veteran Member
Bold Member!
13 November 2018

A Michigan mom has been charged with child abuse after her two sons and her niece were all killed when a fire broke out while they were home alone.

Amber Renee Swain, 28, allegedly left her two sons Brandon Mahone, 9, and 8-year-old brother Zyahir Swain, in their Eastpointe home, with their cousin, four-year-old Madison Adams, to go to work at 5am on March 10.

Swain picked up her sister, Madison's mom Lauren, from her job on her return and the two headed home. But when they finally arrived, the building was ablaze.

Police say the three children were found huddled together in an upstairs bedroom.

The cause of the fire hasn't been publicly disclosed, although officials have said they did not find any working smoke detectors.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...mom-charged-abuse-months-fire-kills-kids.html
 
How fucking heartbreaking.
This is the toll capitalism takes on innocent lives. It should not be this goddamn hard in 2018 to be a single parent and have a decent job that doesn’t leave you with hard decisions to make.
I can guarantee that neither of these women would have left their children alone had they had better options on how to survive.
I don’t understand how we went from single family incomes to barely surviving without dependents but it’s frustrating.
Something needs to change
 
Yes, back in the 80's I was able to afford to have my son at a private school/daycare for $50 per week. My ex paid support of $200 per month and that covered it. The judge low balled the support because ex was unemployed at the time. Not his fault, because the upscale home remodeling contractor he was working for skipped out to another state before we even knew there was a problem.

My budget was tight and I had to borrow from work quite a few times which many people can't do. I was also able to bring my kid to work with me if I needed to which most people definitely cannot do.

Broke though I was, of course, I couldn't qualify for assistance. If single mothers can get food stamps, they should be able to get a child care voucher also. Is that a thing?
 
If you make under a certain amount, you can also get daycare vouchers.

I make like 300 a year too much to qualify for any help or assistance at all... and my ex likes to decide when he can n cant pay me the $125 a week I am supposed to get... I luck out as I can bring my son to work with me, but a 10 yo in a corporate office for the day isnt so fun. I have no choice but to get some after school care for him...

When I do out my monthly bills and actual expenses with nothing over, I make less than what I need to live UGH
 
A Macomb County judge has upheld child-abuse charges against a woman in connection with a fire at her Eastpointe home that killed her two children and a niece who were home alone.

Judge James Maceroni said it remains a question of fact whether Amber Swain, 29, should be convicted of three counts of second-degree child abuse because she was so reckless in leaving the children home alone for more than three hours during which they died. The charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Killed in the March 2018 fire were Brendon Mahone, 9, his brother, Zyahir Swain, 8, and the boys' cousin and Amber Swain’s niece, Madison Swain, 4.

Maceroni says in a six-page, Oct. 3 opinion that leaving the children home alone “could be viewed as reckless behavior as she knew of the existence of a risk of harm and disregarding that knowledge and risk for leaving the children home alone.”

The judge refutes Swain’s defense attorney, John Dakmak, who contends that Swain could not have foreseen the house fire. Maceroni says the mere act of leaving the children home for that long could be seen as reckless, the standard for second-degree child abuse.

“The issue is whether it was foreseeable that the harm could befall the children if left home alone for a period of three hours,” the judge wrote.
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www.theoaklandpress.com

Child-abuse charges maintained against women whose children, niece died in Eastpointe fire

A Macomb County judge has upheld child-abuse charges against a woman in connection with a fire at her Eastpointe home that killed her two children and a niece who were
www.theoaklandpress.com www.theoaklandpress.com
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Maybe she’s numb inside. It was reckless but it sounds like the sisters were trying to help each other out. Probably can’t rely on a grandparent or neighbor because everyone’s working a couple jobs to stay afloat.
 
I can't help but feel some sympathy in situations like this because I know the struggle well. My family is in another country and my daughter's father isolated me to a point where I had literally nobody when we split. He left me homeless and broke with a part time job and a 7 year old. It was very, very hard for a few years. School holidays are still a nightmare because she is simply not mature enough to stay home for 9 hours straight. So while I understand the choice was poor, and led to tragedy, I see it from the other side too. Sometimes the poor choice is the only choice.
 
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I wonder if the kids were ever taught what to do in case of a fire? Being huddled up in a bedroom I suspect they weren't. Even though my children were rarely alone in the house I taught them at an early what to do in case of an emergency, especially a fire. In fact, we had a kitchen fire in the house once and without me asking my 6 year old son anything, he immediately got the fire extinguisher for me and then got him and his mother ready to leave the house in case I couldn't put it out. The boy was cool as a cucumber and I believe it was because we taught him what to do.
 
Amber Swain was given six months probation for misdemeanor child abuse after she left three kids under the age of 10 alone when the family's home burned down.

Swain's two sons, nine-year-old Brendan Mahone and his eight-year-old brother Zyahir Swain, and her niece four-year-old Madison Swain were at the home when it caught fire.

All three died from smoke inhalation.

'This was a mistake, a horrific mistake, with terrible consequences,' said attorney John Dakmak.

'There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't think of her kid,' Dakmak said. 'Probably every minute that goes by.'

Dakmak asserted that his client was punished every day but still needed to take care of her other two children.

'She still has two youngsters to care for and I think that had a lot to with when we got to today,' the attorney added.

The lawyer shared that Amber's sister has stood by her for the past two years, even with losing her only child.
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www.dailymail.co.uk

Grandparents say mother should be 'punished' for fire that killed 3

Amber Swain, of Michigan, was sentenced to six months probation for misdemeanor child abuse, which has angered the grandparents of her two boys.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk
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@imthatbitch

You are right the updated article did not mention her being at work as well as the sister.

However -

The grandparents of the boys feel that they could have been called to watch the children, as they lived right down the street.
Click to expand...
www.dailymail.co.uk

Grandparents say mother should be 'punished' for fire that killed 3

Amber Swain, of Michigan, was sentenced to six months probation for misdemeanor child abuse, which has angered the grandparents of her two boys.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

So both moms had options and made very poor choices
 
Sugar Cookie said:
@imthatbitch

You are right the updated article did not mention her being at work as well as the sister.

However -


www.dailymail.co.uk

Grandparents say mother should be 'punished' for fire that killed 3

Amber Swain, of Michigan, was sentenced to six months probation for misdemeanor child abuse, which has angered the grandparents of her two boys.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

So both moms had options and made very poor choices
Click to expand...

Of course they're not going to look bad to the public and say they were not available, this story is heartbreaking however you see it.
 
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