Facebook and all forms of social media have definitely changed the way we parent. From the questionable punishment of public shaming to the use of social media to find missing children, social media definitely have their pros and cons. One thing is for sure though; it’s definitely here to stay.
Child for sale
In a case that will have parents all over the world raising their eyebrows and exclaiming in horror, a mum from the US has allegedly put her two children up for sale on Facebook. Misty VanHorn, 22, had allegedly asked for a paltry $1,000 for her two-year-old. According to CBS News, the Facebook message she wrote and sent said, “Just come to Sallisaw. It’s only 30 minutes away and I give you all her stuff and let y’all have her forever for $1,000. But I have to have it before next week.”
Investigators have reported that VanHorn tried to sell her children, ages 2 and 10 months, to an Arkansas woman via Facebook. She had also offered to let both her children go at $4,000. Talk about putting a price tag on your children.
I’m selling my children to save my boyfriend
If you’re wondering why such a specific sum total of $4,000, it’s because she needed the cash to bail her boyfriend who was in jail, investigators have reported.
The whistle was blown on her dubious sales activity when the person she was offering to sell her children to called the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, who notified the Sallisaw Police.
VanHorn was subsequently arrested by Sallisaw police on the charge of trafficking children.
Last resort?
Neighbours of VanHorn have said that she had been asking for money to help get her boyfriend out of jail before this. Tony Mosby, one of her neighbours recalls, “She was going door to door, here to all the way across town asking everybody for money to get him out.
The sale of her children was probably the last option left to her which begs the question of just how much she prioritises her children in this equation. That her boyfriend’s freedom was much more important than the lives of her children is definitely a red flag in parenting.
The children in question are currently in custody of the state while VanHorn is remanded with the police.
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