On April 21, 1998, my husband and I received the call that every parent never wants to get. The ambulance was on its way to the hospital with our 15 month old daughter, Stephanie. I knew that she was having difficulty breathing, but when we got to the hospital she was in full cardiac arrest. The paramedics had been doing CPR since they had left the baby-sitters house. All we knew at that time was the story she was telling that Stephanie had fallen off of the couch. We did not learn until the following day that the doctors suspected she had been shaken. Stephanie lost her battle the following morning, there was just no way her body could hold on. There was more damage than her little system could take. Those 12 hours were the longest in my life. We waited for over 15 months for our daughter's killer to come to justice and in those 15 months she had ample time to come up with different stories while she sat in the Montgomery County Jail. Her story changed from Stephanie falling off of the couch to "Not Guilty by reason of Insanity." In the end she ended up pleading "No Contest to Involuntary Manslaughter." She did this only as a last ditch effort to get some jail time off. I believe that she and her defense lawyer both knew this was her easy way out. In the last couple of months that we attended hearings, she shed no tears. She cried for the first time when she entered her plea of "No Contest," and only then because she knew that she was going to prison. The judge who heard our case at some point in those last few weeks saw someone different in her than he did, because he honestly believed she was remorseful. Her statement was one lie after another: a failing marriage, more stress than she could handle, mental problems which caused her to black out and not remember, how much more difficult Stephanie was than her child, and she would not take naps when she wanted her to. But the one ultimate lie was about how much she loved Stephanie, and how she had nightmares about what happened that day. That statement totally contradicted the statement about that she could not remember what it was that she had done due to her mental illness.
This is not someone who is remorseful, this was a desperate woman who wanted a way out of killing an innocent child. In the end, she was sentenced to 5 years in prison. She will have to serve another 3 years and 8 months and then she will be free to baby-sit once again and put another child's life in danger.
Our story was much more complicated but if I had went into every issue of our time spent within the judicial system it would take you hours to read it. All I want is for anyone who reads this to question those who care for your children, watch for signs of stress within the environment that your child is in, watch your child for any signs of unhappiness and please remind anyone who cares for your infant to "Never Shake a Baby."
~Tammi Hackworth, Mommy to Stephanie
Because of this, we have created this site made to inform people of shaken baby syndrome. On this web site are various resources, and each and everyone it meant to inform you to Please read the pages on Prevention, SBS Facts, and Acknowledgement of Receipt of SBS Prevention Information, and our Team Efforts. For more in-depth information on shaken baby syndrome, please visit the Shaken Baby Alliance. (P.S. If you are wondering about all of the different backgrounds, they are to express the feelings that I can not express in words).
To those of you who would like to know more about SBS I am willing to speak from my experience as apparent and help people to better understand what kind of impact this has on a family. I am trying to educate myself so that I can explain the impact of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Shaken Impact Syndrome on infants and why, according to statistics, this happens in society. I am in the process of putting material together so that I can give brief sessions to anyone interested in learning more. If this would be something you are interested in you can contact me at TYHackworth@cs.com. I am willing to speak to group members or individuals that may have experienced the loss that we have or feel the need to know more about SBS. Thank You.