I guess the lesson is simple. If the mother didn't treat her child in the manner that she did, none of this would have happened. The child would still be in her custody and they could continue their lifestyle.

Sure, you can't change the past. The rest of us can learn from it however - people are responsible for their own actions - you can't blame society.

We have our issues in society and prejudice is still a huge problem. Toogood and her lawyers are making a HUGE mistake if they think they can turn public sympathy away from the child and the alleged abuse and make it a battle for Irish Traveler rights. They are trying to turn this into a battle against prejudice and it looks like they have a poor battle plan.

Frankly, prejudice USUALLY is based on appearance - the color of skin, the way a person looks or dresses, or gender. The Irish Travelers that we've seen on the news lately appear to blend into white middle class America. The prejudice only arises when incidents such as scams or thefts occur. (Didn't Dateline a few years ago do a story on underage marriage as well?) Unless the Traveler participates in some sort of ILLEGAL activity, I am curious as to how they are identified. A woman in a department store that looks like half of the customers will not stand out to a security guard unless something occurs. If a security guard started watching a shopper JUST because they are black, Indian, or a woman - then you have a strong case of profiling. I am very curious as to how they can PROVE profiling in this case. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I just can't figure out HOW they are doing it.

Ron