Taryn O’Connor Isn’t Supposed To Babysit
November 11, 2008 by impqueen
Essex, VT -Taryn O’Connor is a classic example of why you should never get your childcare provider from CraigslistCraigslist
. Not without checking references, at least. O’Connor, 22, is accused of shaking a thirteen-month old boy so hard that he is now in critical condition, having undergone brain surgery for severe head trauma. And Taryn O’Connor wasn’t supposed to be supervising children at all.
The victim’s parents are young – 20 and 21, respectively. They have not been named in the press. They found Taryn O’Connor advertising her babysitting services on Craigslist and hired her, but didn’t apparently do any sort of background check. If they had, they would have uncovered that Taryn was on probation for February conviction for domestic assault. She was under court order to have no unsupervised contact with children, including her own.
Things seemed to go okay for three or four months, with O’Connor apparently caring for her own children, ages four and one, as well as the victim. But that all changed on Thursday, NovemberNovember reviews
6, when O’Connor’s own kids were crying and she became stressed.
While changing the 13-month-old boy’s diaper, O’Connor shook him violently, then slammed his head into the changing table. She didn’t tell anyone. She didn’t call for help. Instead, she waited for the baby’s mother to pick him up at about 3:30 p.m. By then, the toddler was breathing, but not responsive, and his mother called 911 to the home.
At the hospital, it was determined that the baby had suffered severe brain trauma. His condition is currently critical, and he’s undergone emergency surgery to alleviate pressure and further damage to his swollen brain. His prognosis is uncertain due to the damage his brain has already sustained. If he survives, it is likely that he will have lasting effects of his babysitter’s temper tantrum.
Which begs the question: why was Taryn O’Connor babysitting if she wasn’t supposed to be around children? Who had custody of Taryn’s kids, and why did they ignore the court order to keep them away from her? The Lamoille Family Center, who was supposed to be supervising Taryn’s visits with her own kids, hasn’t had any comment and refers callers to the Department of Children and Families. DCF says they can’t answer those questions yet, either – but they’re working on it.
Sounds like someone should have been “working on it” about four months ago.
O’Connor pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of cruelty to a child younger than 10 and aggravated assault. She is being held at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington on $200,000 bond and is due back in court for a bond review hearing on FridayFriday reviews.
SoUncool tipped us to this case in our forums.
10:29 am on November 11th, 2008
Craigslist? WTF? That’s about the last place I’d look!
Poor baby! Another child destined to have horrible damage due to shaking. I just don’t get it.
I hope she rots in that jail or they find her hanging some morning. What a piece of shit!
10:45 am on November 11th, 2008
Umm yeah, Craiglists is for used couches, cars, hookers even (kidding), but childcare – no way. This is the problem, childcare is so expensive and I bet she was cheap. Someone needs to regulate how much they can charge so “normal” families can afford it without going hungry. Not saying those parents were in the right, they should of done background checks, call references, etc. Background checks are not that expensive maybe $20, well worth it. Hopefully this baby will recover, but like stated above he probably will deal with this the rest of his life. Very Unfortunate.
10:46 am on November 11th, 2008
Dumb bitch!
I hope somebody takes out some grusome revenge on this stupid cunt.
And she has the audacity to plead not guilty? She didn’t call 911 when this baby was obviously hurt?
How some people are still allowed to be procreating is beyond me.
10:51 am on November 11th, 2008
Looks like someone dropped the ball. The probation system sucks.
11:27 am on November 11th, 2008
Again DCF falls on its face. Child services in every state seem to be an issue, we have money for wars and bailouts for CEO golden parachutes. No money in the system to protect children, guess if they’re not old enough to vote or pay huge sums of money to political lobbyist they’re worthless as far as the government is concerned. All I ever hear is understaffed, over worked, lost in the system. While the government gives AIG billions in bailout money, so they can take their executives to expensive spas, to recover from the pressure of getting all that free government money & BONUS after losing hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars. Let the children fall through the cracks they can’t vote yet anyhow.
1:12 pm on November 11th, 2008
I must say I found an awesome sitter on Craigslist last year in the Milwaukee area. I was looking for someone to watch my 3 in the evenings once in awhile while hubby and I had date nights. She was a grad student trying to make some extra $. I did get refs (who I called) and had a criminal background check run on her. It was very extensive but necessary. She had worked at daycare centers throughout college so I was also able to get some professional refs. I also do the same kind of background check on sitters I’ve hired from my church. Just because I “know” them from church doesn’t mean jack. If they won’t provide all their info, name, dob, ss#, etc. I don’t even consider them.
I can’t figure out why this chick would want to babysit if she didn’t enjoy children. Apparently she enjoyed torturing children. Sick bitch! I hope she rots in hell!
1:34 pm on November 11th, 2008
In today’s times you can not trust anyone to babysit your child.
It is a sad world we live in.
Getting one through craigslist is just asinine
1:35 pm on November 11th, 2008
Don’t forget about those badass couches they’re selling on craigslist these days! they’ve been known to kill babies too! i wonder if the cars on craigslist are this bad ass too….
2:30 pm on November 11th, 2008
Sadly, this is not uncommon. I have an ex sister-in-law who (after 13 calls to Child Services) lost her four children but then somehow managed to get two part time jobs… one working with disabled adults and the other at a child care facility???
Child Services should be held accountable for the heartwrenching pain this poor little poor had to endure, as should the “babysitters” family who not only allowed her to continue seeing her own children but did not speak up or do anything to protect an innocent child when they knew she was not capable of taking care of her own children let alone someone elses???
My heart goes out to this little boys family….
2:54 pm on November 11th, 2008
Good for you tray-bay-bay, at least some parent took the time to do background checks. This couple obviously did not do a very good job. Though I will admit Vermont is one of thoughs hard ass states , that charges all kinds of fees and jumping through hoops to get the info from(VCIC).
It looks like Taryn O’Connor in February 2008, was charged with domestic assault of some kind, ( ex spouse ? ) and ordered to care for children only under the supervision of the Lamoille Family Center.
She has also been charged twice for driving with a suspended license and three times for violating a parole order.
What ever the assult was it was violent enough to get supervision only with her children. The parole order violation might have been about the children since she, for some fucked up reason still had them.
Theres pretty much only 3 reasons to get a suspended drives licence in vermont. 10 points on your license within two years, DUI, or fleeing an accident. Three guess’s what one it was.
3:11 pm on November 11th, 2008
The news is reporting two different versions of the abuse. I cant tell yet if its both or sepperate abuses.
One is “violent shaking” and the other is “O’Connor lost control of her emotions and slammed the baby’s legs, then head, down on a changing table.” Both would have caused the head trama.
Not that it really matters in the long run. It still would had been obvious that the child had suffered trama and needed imediate medical attention.
3:39 pm on November 11th, 2008
This is awfully over-dramatic. The vast majority of people in the world are generally good and would never think to harm a child. If you take some basic cautionary measures (checking references or performing a background check), you’ll generally be just fine. Statistically, child abuse/infanticide is down significantly from 30 years ago, so, clearly, today’s times have nothing to do with it.
9:21 pm on November 11th, 2008
Taryn has made many mistakes in her life but it does not make her a bad person. her whole life she struggled through the abuse and a broken home her mother (a coke head) is very much responsible for who she is today. Taryn has been in and out of rehab and really wanted to succeed. Though this does not excuse her actions what so ever this is terrible thing that happened my thoughts and prayer are there for the family. They did not find taryn off od craigs list they were a friend of the familys and trusted her so do not be so quick to judge without knowing all the facts just keep the families in your prayer and pray the little one makes a full recovery.
10:21 pm on November 11th, 2008
But shaking a baby and banging it’s head against a changing table does. Even if her mother was a coke head, that does not make up for the fact that she shook the poor baby. And of course we are hoping the baby recovers. Although if he does, he will have problems for the rest of his life because of what this woman did to him.
10:24 pm on November 11th, 2008
Dont forget, she made it a whole 4 months before almost killing the baby. Thats a plus as well :: rolls eyes::
If Taryn was a friend of the family , how come they were not aware of her abuseive past behaviour and the court order banning her, from her own children. Ohh lets not forget the suspended drivers licence and possible DUI’s or parole violations or other crimes.
I dont think Taryn is an evil, mean person, but I do think she should have never been around anyones children till she had years more therapy for what ever her prolums are.
Lots of people here, have been through way more abuse and trama than Taryn will never know and we dont do that kind of thing to our children. We have enough facts to know, She wont be winning mother of the year awards and shouldnt be left around small children.
11:18 pm on November 11th, 2008
Craigslist WTF never get anything from craigslist.people should do good back ground checks on babysitters,i feel bad for the baby..as for the bitch that did this,they should shake her to her fukin brains fall out of her head.
12:37 am on November 12th, 2008
“her whole life she struggled through the abuse and a broken home her mother (a coke head) is very much responsible for who she is today”.
I grew up being deprived of food, physically, and sexually abused as a child. All by the hands of my mother and her piece of shit live in penis. But I have never been so angry that I have hurt any of my children, or anyone’s child. A child is injured to the point of possible disability and we should ” not be so quick to judge without knowing all the facts”…Are you kidding me? What other facts should we consider?
It’s plain and simple. She hurt an innocent child. That alone makes you a horrible person. Regardless if she grew up with the Cleavers, or with a crackhead. Having a bad childhood is not an excuse to hurt anyone let alone a small child.
9:43 am on November 12th, 2008
I am actually pissed that you would even come on here and try to make a lame ass excuse for this horrible women. She severely hurt a baby and never should of been around him in the first place. He will suffer for the rest of his life so is he supposed to beat women when he gets older because she did this too him? (if he actually has any type of movement and is not a vegetable) I mean come on….please shut up!
11:40 am on November 12th, 2008
And bathtubs, also known baby killers. Better to be filthy dirty than to have a bathtub in your home.
You might as well go into the bathroom of a mall and recruit your babysitter.
I can see that Taryn had a hard start. But what was she doing having kids and trying to take care of other people’s kids? Why do people have children when they can barely run their life when it’s just them alone? Didn’t anyone in the family think to take in those kids and relieve this damaged young woman from a burden she couldn’t handle?
And if killing a baby (which is pretty much what she did) doesn’t make a person into a bad person, what does?
5:26 pm on November 12th, 2008
yeah, well craigslist babysitters are not too great, but what is weird is the poster above who has inside knowledge of this crime and is defending it. I’m curious Glinda if you have any more info for us, so we are not to quick to judge. if I sent you a list of everything I did that was bad……would you find a way to rationalize each one? I bet you would.
7:10 pm on November 12th, 2008
Blah!Blah!Blah! Cue the violins…I am so over these defense mechanisms that rely on how abused the accused was and how it has affected their mental being! That little baby didn’t ask to hear about it either. The bitch viciously and nearly killed a defenseless baby- and who’s preaching for him.?
Fuck that-she knew she was considered a detriment and whether she was on Craigslist or a friend, she should have stepped up and said she can’t handle it. Couldn’t she fucking try to succeed at something welse? There is no excuse for abusing a defenseless child like this. If she was abused herself and has the balls to elaborate on it, then she should have known that it is not normal.
Rant over…
10:46 pm on November 12th, 2008
I agree with you, Trish. What a stupid thing to do. AND NO… you can’t trust just anyone with your children.
Where did you find those statistics? I can’t remember if it was our area community mental health, or child advocacy office, but I read it was up. Also, being a volunteer with probate court I can tell you the cases are (reported) are on the rise. However, day care centers (which I know is a little different than your typical babysitter) are required to be within certain guidelines, which includes and is not limited to, fingerprinting and background checks. I agree, checking references and doing a background check is really the first thing parents should do.
Todays times have a lot to do with it. I think there is more of an awareness thus it is reported more. Also, as population goes up (and it has) it is almost expected that we would see more cases.
But really the point I was trying to make is that it is sad. A good case in point: my friend went into the hospital for her ‘prepared stay appointment’ before she left they handed her a baby rattle that says, “shake this, never a baby”
10:57 pm on November 12th, 2008
Full recovery??? ugh, do you really think a child who has had its brain thrashed around in its tiny head will really be able to have a “full” recovery? Your friend has no excuse, she is a rotten person who needs to learn how to pick on people her own size. I’d like to see her shake me….
I’ll tell you what…
that little innocent baby could have had a beautiful life, instead he will have a hard life….and so will his family. NOW, who has a hard life? Do we care that Taryn has had a hard life? Nope, we really don’t. Like I said, No excuse. Tell your friend I hope she rots in jail. Thanks
(by the way, ever hold a child who has lived after recovering from shaken baby syndrome? I have…. it is absolutely heartbreaking. Yeah, this child too was perfectly normal until shaken. She now is blind and mentally handicapped. The left side of her body is limp with CP….. would you call that a full recovery????)
6:56 pm on November 14th, 2008
Young parents with few resources….yeah…how about some federally funded childcare. I wish we’d bail out our country’s children instead some highrollers at A.I.G.
2:51 pm on February 1st, 2009
CL has a lot of good providers – and many more illegal providers. CL is one of the few places where providers/parents can post for openings/care needed for FREE. Since last August, I have had 3 openings (which is a lot for me) and I filled two spots with families that found me from CL.
The problem is that there are a lot of illegal providers out there (and some legal ones shouldn’t be doing care). PARENTS HAVE TO CONFIRM WITH REGULATORY AGENCIES WHETHER A PROVIDER IS LEGAL OR NOT. PARENTS MUST CALL ALL REFERENCES TOO. And I bet these parent’s did not hang out with this woman for a few hours and watch her with her children & their baby either!
Personally, besides making sure you choose a legal provider, confirm it, and check references – I think parents should go another step and request the provider do a drug-screen too. Drug screenings are not used in either of the two States my area is in… too bad because that would probably knock out another 1/2 of the “bad providers” out there.
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