News Forum - Thai student gives birth and hides baby on fire escape

[Thaiger]

A 19 year old Thai student left her newborn baby on a fire escape after giving birth, having kept her pregnancy a secret from friends and family. Her 19 year old boyfriend found out only after discovering the baby on the fire escape. This morning police in the city of Pak Kret in Nonthaburi province …

The story Thai student gives birth and hides baby on fire escape as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Pinetree]

Taking actions without taking any responsibility for the outcome.  It's the scourge of the younger GEN Z generation. I hope her boyfriend is made of sterner stuff. 

[Marc26]

8 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Taking actions without taking any responsibility for the outcome.  It's the scourge of the younger GEN Z generation. I hope her boyfriend is made of sterner stuff. 

Yes babies have only been abandoned since GEN Z

 

Never before in history........

[palooka]

The reasons this child is present are TOTALLY irrelevant. 

The child is here, nothing will change that except death.

This child needs to be loved and cherished.

I wish you a long and happy life little one.

[Saunk]

How dumb do her friends, family and boyfriend need to be to not know she was pregnant lol.  

[Guest1]

9 minutes ago, Saunk said:

How dumb do her friends, family and boyfriend need to be to not know she was pregnant lol.  

Have you seen a picture of her?

I haven`t, but I have seen girls, ladies, you wouldn`t recognizes that they are pregnant.

It is all a question of the BMI!

[Mazz11]

9 hours ago, Saunk said:

How dumb do her friends, family and boyfriend need to be to not know she was pregnant lol.  

There was a woman in this morning's West Australian newspaper who gave birth and had no idea that she was pregnant, even went to the doctor due to bloating who told her that she had constipation and needed eat more fruit. 

[Karolyn]

Such child abandonment only occurs during mental health episodes.

[Mazz11]

13 hours ago, Karolyn said:

Such child abandonment only occurs during mental health episodes.

Social pressures can also cause a young person to make a decision like this.

[Karolyn]

5 hours ago, Mazz11 said:

Social pressures can also cause a young person to make a decision like this.

I see no evidence so

[Mazz11]

3 hours ago, Karolyn said:

I see no evidence so

You see no evidence in society that there is still the preference of marriage before having children in today's society? I grant you that it is a lot less than it was in previous generations but it still exists.

I personally don't care if someone is married or not prior to having children but if you think this pressure doesn't exist I'm afraid you are either in denial or delusional.

Your statement that child abandonment only occurs in cases of mental health episodes may be partially true, but it can be the social pressures that put a person into a state of mind that hiding a pregnancy and abandoning the child is the only option a young girl feel that she has.

We are all making assumptions regarding this case but I stand by my statement that social pressures could be a major influence towards a young unmarried girl hiding a pregnancy.

[Marc26]

5 hours ago, Mazz11 said:

You see no evidence in society that there is still the preference of marriage before having children in today's society? I grant you that it is a lot less than it was in previous generations but it still exists.

I personally don't care if someone is married or not prior to having children but if you think this pressure doesn't exist I'm afraid you are either in denial or delusional.

Your statement that child abandonment only occurs in cases of mental health episodes may be partially true, but it can be the social pressures that put a person into a state of mind that hiding a pregnancy and abandoning the child is the only option a young girl feel that she has.

We are all making assumptions regarding this case but I stand by my statement that social pressures could be a major influence towards a young unmarried girl hiding a pregnancy.

My wife has been worried since my stepson was 16yrs old that he'd get a girl pregnant

 

And I just never worried because if that happened(he'd be dead, she'd kill him 5555) we would take care of it, or my MIL or the girl's family

 

So I wouldn't want it to happen and at 22yrs old, looks like it won't

 

But I was never worried

 

This young girl may have not had the family support(which is rare in Thailand)

[Karolyn]

16 hours ago, Mazz11 said:

You see no evidence in society that there is still the preference of marriage before having children in today's society? I grant you that it is a lot less than it was in previous generations but it still exists.

I personally don't care if someone is married or not prior to having children but if you think this pressure doesn't exist I'm afraid you are either in denial or delusional.

Your statement that child abandonment only occurs in cases of mental health episodes may be partially true, but it can be the social pressures that put a person into a state of mind that hiding a pregnancy and abandoning the child is the only option a young girl feel that she has.

We are all making assumptions regarding this case but I stand by my statement that social pressures could be a major influence towards a young unmarried girl hiding a pregnancy.

Are you a feminist by any chance? Because there's only a certain, fringe position that associates society itself, and ordinary attitudes to marriage, as causing harm to children. Whilst thus exonerating a young woman, who abandoned a baby, which you seem to think is non-pathological behavior, despite the criminological and psychiatric literature connecting it to depression after childbirth, in situations with little or no social support. Which, one must admit, is a social problem

[Karolyn]

11 hours ago, Marc26 said:

My wife has been worried since my stepson was 16yrs old that he'd get a girl pregnant

And I just never worried because if that happened(he'd be dead, she'd kill him 5555) we would take care of it, or my MIL or the girl's family

So I wouldn't want it to happen and at 22yrs old, looks like it won't

But I was never worried

This young girl may have not had the family support(which is rare in Thailand)

Why 16? Late starter?

Where I'm from lads bang hookers and, erm, promiscuous ladies at ages like 13 and 14. I doubt Thailand is any different...

[Marc26]

18 minutes ago, Karolyn said:

Why 16? Late starter?

Where I'm from lads bang hookers and, erm, promiscuous ladies at ages like 13 and 14. I doubt Thailand is any different...

Why 16?

Well really should have been 18 actually when he went to University 

 

His grandmother basically imprisoned the kid. 555

He wasn't allowed out except for school and sports

[Vigo]

1 hour ago, Karolyn said:

Are you a feminist by any chance? Because there's only a certain, fringe position that associates society itself, and ordinary attitudes to marriage, as causing harm to children. Whilst thus exonerating a young woman, who abandoned a baby, which you seem to think is non-pathological behavior, despite the criminological and psychiatric literature connecting it to depression after childbirth, in situations with little or no social support. Which, one must admit, is a social problem

Looks more like someone with common sense with an awareness of  Thai society. Unwed mothers are  looked down upon. Children with an absent parent are bullied.

[Marc26]

10 minutes ago, Vigo said:

Looks more like someone with common sense with an awareness of  Thai society. Unwed mothers are  looked down upon. Children with an absent parent are bullied.

I don't know how much unwed mothers are looked down upon

Maybe by people outside their community (rural setting)

But a huge % of moms in rural settings are unmarried 

 

And just by observation 

I haven't seen too many feeling shame

 

I'd say an unwed mother is much more looked down upon(unless she is older and by choice) in North America than in Thailand 

 

 

Not to say it doesn't happen though 

[Karolyn]

2 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I don't know how much unwed mothers are looked down upon

Maybe by people outside their community (rural setting)

But a huge % of moms in rural settings are unmarried 

And just by observation 

I haven't seen too many feeling shame

I'd say an unwed mother is much more looked down upon(unless she is older and by choice) in North America than in Thailand 

Not to say it doesn't happen though 

I agree with you, but my question is. 

Who on earth thinks young women abandon their own newborns, premeditated, just because they are unwed mothers?

 

[Vigo]

11 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I don't know how much unwed mothers are looked down upon

Maybe by people outside their community (rural setting)

But a huge % of moms in rural settings are unmarried 

And just by observation 

I haven't seen too many feeling shame

I'd say an unwed mother is much more looked down upon(unless she is older and by choice) in North America than in Thailand 

Not to say it doesn't happen though 

I should have provided  additional context. Yes, people who are in rural areas,impoverished and poorly educated are more likely to tolerate the presence of unwed mothers.  However, the defining characteristic of Thailand's upper strata, its demographic of haves and urban wealthy is to ostracize and distance from unwed mothers and their offspring. The one exception are highly educated/wealthy women who decouple once they accomplished their goal of having a child. These are people who's other attributes define them. There are all sorts of  academic papers published in Thailand since this  is a characteristic of the society. For example, Re-defining stigmatization: intersectional stigma of single mothers in Thailand,  Journal of Family Studies Volume 29, 2023 - Issue 3, page 1222  goes into more specific detail as to the why's and where's.  Many schools have parent day events and it is the child who doesn't have parents attending who is indirectly shamed. Children still suffer the pain of their parents perceived or assumed misdeeds.

At the risk of appearing frivolous, much of a society's prejudices or norms are reflected in the  soap operas and dramas that play every day. Single mother's are not presented in a positive light. Thailand prides itself on its family structure with  family members supporting one another. Unfortunately, that structure has been fraying and disintegrating over the past 20 years as birth rates drop and adolescent out of wedlock births increased. The treatment of single mothers can be seen as a rejection of the change in family structure. 

In plain language, in my social circles, unwed mothers conceal their  offspring if they wish to succeed. Otherwise, they are kept out of sight and not discussed.  I accept that out in rural tambons, things are different.

[Marc26]

34 minutes ago, Vigo said:

I should have provided  additional context. Yes, people who are in rural areas,impoverished and poorly educated are more likely to tolerate the presence of unwed mothers.  However, the defining characteristic of Thailand's upper strata, its demographic of haves and urban wealthy is to ostracize and distance from unwed mothers and their offspring. The one exception are highly educated/wealthy women who decouple once they accomplished their goal of having a child. These are people who's other attributes define them. There are all sorts of  academic papers published in Thailand since this  is a characteristic of the society. For example, Re-defining stigmatization: intersectional stigma of single mothers in Thailand,  Journal of Family Studies Volume 29, 2023 - Issue 3, page 1222  goes into more specific detail as to the why's and where's.  Many schools have parent day events and it is the child who doesn't have parents attending who is indirectly shamed. Children still suffer the pain of their parents perceived or assumed misdeeds.

At the risk of appearing frivolous, much of a society's prejudices or norms are reflected in the  soap operas and dramas that play every day. Single mother's are not presented in a positive light. Thailand prides itself on its family structure with  family members supporting one another. Unfortunately, that structure has been fraying and disintegrating over the past 20 years as birth rates drop and adolescent out of wedlock births increased. The treatment of single mothers can be seen as a rejection of the change in family structure. 

In plain language, in my social circles, unwed mothers conceal their  offspring if they wish to succeed. Otherwise, they are kept out of sight and not discussed.  I accept that out in rural tambons, things are different.

So what you just said is a minority of the country look down upon unwed pregnancies 

 

I wouldn't hold up School Parent Event days in Thailand as some sort of barometer since they are severely lacking compared to most Western Countries as well as East Asian countries

Or Parent participation in school events, again severely lacking in Thailand

 

I know from personal experience on both, with my wife often times being the only parent at school events(sports, etc)

(Single, unwed mother, by the way)

 

 

I am not advocating or championing unwed mothers, I think it is an issue in the country

 

I just think you are ascribing Thai society to the minority of the country

 

And I am not saying that unwed mothers aren't looked down upon, even in the village there will be gossip about them

 

I just don't think it is that huge of a hardship for them in terms of stigma 

[Mazz11]

My girlfriends sister (unwed) hid her pregnancy and the birth of her child from her mother (divorced) and refused to go back to her home town in rural Thailand for many years. 

As most are saying, this social issue doesn't seem to be as prevalent as in years past but it still happens.