Chapter 8 - Vanessa Said She Was Teaching Them Discipline
When Vanessa finally sat with attorneys, she did not deny restricting food.
That surprised everyone.
She defended it.
“I never starved them.”
The forensic family specialist asked:
“How do you define starvation?”
“They always ate eventually.”
“How long did they sometimes go without dinner?”
“One meal.”
“Sometimes dinner and breakfast?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“If behavior continued.”
“Were snacks restricted?”
“Yes.”
“School lunches?”
“Only if they wasted them.”
The specialist stared at her.
“These are six- and seven-year-old children.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“They’re spoiled.”
There it was.
Her entire justification.
She believed deprivation corrected entitlement.
She believed expensive surroundings made basic needs optional teaching tools.
When asked about the worn clothes, Vanessa said:
“They had other things.”
“Where?”
“I rotated access.”
Meaning she withheld them.
When asked why she continued eating elaborate dinners in front of hungry children, she replied:
“I am an adult.”
That sentence became one of the most important in the custody evaluation.
Not because it was dramatic.
Because it showed hierarchy.
Vanessa believed adulthood granted privileges children had to deserve.
Even food.
May you like
Even dignity.
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