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Hannah Overton - Andrew

Hannah Overton
Andrew Obsession With Eating - Pica

What are your thoughts about the case of Hannah Overton? Did she willfully try to kill her adopted son, or was it accidental?

See information about the case: Source 2
A blog page about the case: Source 9

Andrew Overton Hannah

It is hard to know the truth of anything from just reading reports. However, having a special needs son has taught me the valuable lesson of not trying to pass judgments on the parents who care for them. Special children to do not operate in the realm of 'normal' for others. Therefore you cannot expect 'normal' from the child. If the child suffered with pica then most likely he could have poisoned himself with salt. Possibly the only thing that the parents could be blamed for is not taking greater precautions in securing the food, etc. With that said, mistakes happen, and it only takes a minute or two of unsupervised time for something to go terribly wrong.

Hannah Overton - Andrew History & Civil Business Politics

In my limited perception, I think he was abused because of many reasons:

1. His body was covered with bruises and scratches.

2. Nobody called 911 to ask for help.

3. The kid did not even have a mattress to sleep on.

4. Based on the testimony of her own kids, she would punish them by placing pepper flakes on their mouth.

All this does not sound "innocent" to me but we may never know. I think she was just an overwhelmed mother of 4 who decided to adopt a child but did not know the repercussions of raising a special needs child.

Andrew Overton Hannah

There are explanations for all of those according to the mother and the 20/20 report:

1. Those were self inflicted. His Sunday School teacher said he often scratched himself constantly until his skin would bleed.

2. She thought he just had a cold or fever and did not know he ingested all that salt. She only decided to go to the hospital when she did not see an improvement in him (90 minutes later I think).

3. That's because he smeared feces all over it and so the father took it outside and burnt it. He slept in a sleeping bag.

4. She said that it was from a suggestion by her pastor who said to use the Pizza Hut pepper flakes (very mild) and put one on the tongue and then take it off.

Andrew Overton Hannah

Name: Stevie

Comments: The mattress was not burned. It was washed & left to dry outside. (It takes a long time for a mattress to dry in the coastal region.)

And not all the wounds were self inflicted. Some were just normal bruises active boys will have. And some were caused by the thinning of the blood. In this state, hugs would cause bruises. The medical tape on the body would cause bruises. And the tiniest of wounds would look horific after the blood starts thinning. I don't blame people for thinking Andrew was abused at first. But I do blame people for not stepping back & changing their minds once all the facts came in.

Hannah Overton - Andrew

This story was once again featured on 20/20, two years after the case. Both doctors, one for the prosecution and one for the defense, felt that Hannah Overton did not cause the death of Andrew. They want an appeal based on this information since the jury did not get to hear this information, it will take two years for the Court of Appeals to hear the case. They asked Hannah if she regretted adopting Andrew, and she said "no".

Hannah Overton Andrew

There are so many odd things about this story. From the fact that this child's body was covered in bruises to the testimony of the other kids who said they were disciplined by Hannah by placing pepper flakes in their mouth. Everything indicates abuse to me.

Hannah Overton Andrew Politics Business Civil & History

This is the one thing that makes me apprehensive about adopting. Each child's history, especially inherited genetic history is not known and so when you adopt a child you may be thinking indirectly he will be just like the other kids, when in fact there are a whole load of special needs attached to the child that may change your life forever. I believe this what happened in the Hannah Overton / Andrew case. They may have gotten more than they bargained for and as a result could not handle it whether willfully, negligently or otherwise.