Australian parents who put their baby daughter on a strict vegan diet were charged with child abuse two years ago when the couple took the child to a hospital and she was found to have been malnourished including having features on the baby’s body that indicated potential negligence. Consequently, the poor child now suffers from a number of cognitive disabilities. During their sentencing, the judge handed down a very unique and appropriate decision according to the parent’s circumstance. As an aside, parents who impose their fetishes on their kids are a danger to society.

No jail for parents after their baby was disabled by strict vegan diet

By Adam Cooper, September 28, 2020, The Age

The parents of a baby girl who put their daughter on a strict vegan diet, starving her of vital nutrients to the point she developed cerebral palsy, won’t face jail despite a judge finding they failed in their basic parental duties.

The child was one when in August 2018 she was taken to a Victorian hospital where she was found to have bruising over her body, was cool to the touch, lethargic and had dark-coloured blood in her nappy. Doctors found a level of malnutrition akin to children in famine-hit countries.

From when the baby was four months old and her mother’s breast milk supply waned, her parents shunned medical advice to supplement their daughter’s diet with formula and instead fed her coconut milk, fruit juices, smoothies, plant-based foods and formula the father made.

A County Court judge on Monday said the girl, now aged three, faced daily struggles in her cognitive development, physical functioning and communication, and found her life’s course was altered by her parents’ actions.

The judge said she would normally jail the parents, if not that they were best placed to care for their daughter and address her high needs, although it was ironic those demands were attributable to their actions. The judge found the girl was now well cared for by her mother and now has a healthy and nutritious diet.

“You are in the best position to do that and [the daughter] deserves it,” the judge said. The parents, aged in their 30s, cannot be named.

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