Mom of baby abused by father pained by son's struggles (Las Vegas, Nevada)

My heart goes out to this mom. Like a lot of mothers these days, she was forced to work very long hours (14 hours a day) even with a 3-month-old infant, just so she could support her family and send money home. Meanwhile, she was saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, ANDREW MENDOZA, the father of her son, whom she trusted to take care of the baby in her absence. Mothers are encouraged to believe that these days, by both the fathers rights ideologues and gender-neutral feminists. That fathers can assume a mother's place while mothers--even mothers of newborns-- take on everything else in the world, whether it's fighting a war overseas or earning all the household income.

What moms are really taking on is exhaustion and heartbreak. All the pro-daddy ideology has just become another way to use, exploit, and spit out moms. It goes without saying that American women STILL don't have decent maternity leaves, much less paid ones, so they can take care of their own babies. No, we are forced to dump them on somebody else so we can keep at the job. Whether it's daycare or all the unemployed daddies and boyfriends out there who have been drafted into "caregiving." Sitters and dads/boyfriends have MUCH higher rates of severe or even fatal child abuse. The major child abuse studies all say this (check out some of the studies posted here at Dastardly). We just don't want to face it.

Those very precious first few months can never be relived once they are gone. A life that is taken can never be regained. Let me say it plainly. BABIES NEED THEIR MOTHERS. Not Daddy. Not a babysitter. And certainly not Mom's current live-in boyfriend.

It is a societal CRIME that the mother of a 3-month-old infant had to work 14 hours a day. She should have had the option of staying home. We can't afford it you say? Can we afford life-long medical care for this baby? Because that's what he's going to need now.

Let's face facts. A lot of these testosterone-fueled young men can't deal with infants. They're not primed by nature nor by environment with the patience or nurturing skills. Peruse Dastardly Dads, and you'll find hundreds of cases like this. Dads who are just not ready to be caretakers on any long-term basis, or even as short-term babysitters. And what happened here is too often the case. Babies and young children who are killed or severely injured and/or disabled by "frustrated" fathers who just couldn't deal with crying and the like.

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12094548

Mother of abused baby pained by watching son struggle
Posted: March 5, 2010 11:26 PM CST

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - A devastated mother is breaking her silence, as she tries to cope with a life lesson that has left her baby with life long damage. She says her biggest mistake was trusting the infant's father.

21-year-old Ashley Silverberg says she was on an extended stay across state lines in Arizona when the baby's father lost his mind.

Andrew Mendoza faces 11 different felony charges, ranging from child abuse to child neglect, for allegedly biting, pinching, slapping and squeezing his three month old son. That infant remains in critical condition in intensive care at University Medical Center. Some of the injuries to the baby include severe bite marks, lacerations to the liver and a fractured skull.

Silverberg says her son has been taken off of life-support but will likely never recover from severe brain damage. According to her, doctors will perform a tracheotomy in the coming days, inserting a feeding tube in the baby's stomach. She doesn't know if her son, Angel Alexander Mendoza, will ever be able to talk, walk or do anything on his own.

"I loved my son so much. I thought I had the perfect match, a boy and a girl. Now my son needs 24 hour 7 day a week care, and my daughter is in a foster home," said Ashley Silverberg, who says she's still trying to grasp with what she calls a "living nightmare".

Silverberg says she traveled to Arizona to spend some time with family and was working 14 hour days to send money back home. She describes nothing but pure shock when Child Protective Services called and told her what had happened to her son. She says she knew the baby's father wasn't perfect but never expected he was capable of something so heinous.

"I never thought he would touch my son, or I wouldn't have left him," said Silverberg. "I'm mad. I'm so angry. How could he hurt my son, his own son."

Silverberg is now reaching out to all young mothers, hoping someone else can learn from her reality. Looking back at the situation, she says she would've taken the baby with her to Arizona and wouldn't have left the father unsupervised.

"This should've never happened. It's wrong for anyone anywhere to harm a child, especially their own, a three-month-old baby. He didn't deserve this, and now he's laying in a hospital bed by himself," Silverberg went on to say.

This young mother explains overwhelming medical bills and other expenses as a direct result of the unthinkable abuse to her son.

An account has been set up in the name of Angel Alexander Mendoza at Amalgamated Bank. The account number is 180010173.