Posted on 07/15/2025 4:46:15 AM PDT by Morgana
A grieving couple have been inundated with hateful criticism after their excited child ran ahead of them on holiday and fell to her death from a huge cliff.
Bianca Zanella and her family were on vacation last Thursday when the 11 year-old ran away from her father and tumbled down Fortaleza Canyon in Cambará do Sul, a city in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. She died on impact.
Zanella's parents and her two younger brothers returned to Curitabá – where they reside in the nearby state of Paraná – on Friday and the little girl's body arrived Saturday for the wake and burial services.
Carolina dos Santos, who is representing the family, called on the public to support the grieving parents instead of blaming them for their daughter's death.
Zanella had Autism Spectrum Disorder levels two to three.
'In this moment of tragedy, of profound sadness for this family, Brazilian society must show solidarity and respect the memory of Bianca, who was an autistic girl, who lived and was included,' dos Santos said during a press conference Saturday at the funeral home.
'It is very easy for public opinion to judge a family, a family that wanted to give Bianca a dignified and inclusive life. May Brazilian society understand that people with disabilities have the right to have a dignified life.'
Zanella's parents, whose names have not been released by authorities, have yet to publicly comment on the tragic incident and will not be planning on doing so, the lawyer said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Kids are fast. You cant always control them.
Having said that, they should have been extra cautious if they knew they were heading to a risky place.
yep, they are. You can’t wait to “react” to something like this you have to anticipate beforehand the danger and take precautions
A woman in my office has a 7 year old boy with this exact issue. At a river cook out he ran straight for the fired up charcoal grill. His mom anticipated this and no harm. Later he ran straight for the pier and she caught that too. Exhausting. Especially since her husband left her. It’s a constant struggle.
We had a similar case here with a child around 5 years old, however there were no witnesses to this child climbing a fence and diving into the Genesee River below. They still are unable to find the child and they have dredged the river and done heroic efforts to find him.
To me the story locally doesn’t add up. Single minority mom walking along the river with her kid during the day and one of her kids scales the rather high fence and jumps off. No witnesses whatsoever. Now there are shouts of suing the city and making the fence twice as high.
We hear more and more of these type accidents/events.
I’m not sure if its more and more or just better use of
communications across the globe. Sad
“ To me the story locally doesn’t add up. Single minority mom walking along the river with her kid during the day and one of her kids scales the rather high fence and jumps off. No witnesses whatsoever. Now there are shouts of suing the city and making the fence twice as high.”
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Jeez. Well, sometimes you have to be proactive to win the ghetto lottery. Many kids nowadays are seen not as a joy but merely as a burden.
They have “leashes” for severely autistic kids in NYC. This is why. Seems barbaric, but it keeps them from running into traffic.
Kids do stupid things. You can - with effort - worldproof your child, but you can’t - despite liberals’/progressives’ worst efforts - childproof the world.
I once watched in horror as my 8 year old son rode his bike down a sidewalk without stopping or slowing down at the street just about 50 yards from our house right into the path of an oncoming car whose driver MUST have seen him and braked HARD - God Bless those BMW engineers.
I ran over, thanked the driver profusely while he yelled about watching my kid and I proceeded to CHAIN my son’s bicycle up for a week. My wife never forgave me for punishing him for this. I know her. She never would have forgiven me had he died.
My prayers for peace, understanding and comfort go out to the grieving parents.
Both can be true at the same time. But people should not be using a tragedy like this as an opportunity to tell the parents what they did wrong as parents. Just because you can comment doesn’t mean you should.
“They have “leashes” for severely autistic kids in NYC. This is why. Seems barbaric, but it keeps them from running into traffic.”
Does not sound barbaric it sounds like common sense.
Sure as hell better than cleaning up road kill. They need these for older kids/adults with special needs.
That one is for a toddler, can you find one for an older child? A teen or young adult?
Heck, I had one for my daughter when she was two at the State Fair. I got some encouraging smiles and some definitely disapproving scowls.
This was the era where the wrist things were popular and I saw way too many kids pulling with all their weight on mom’s arm, which looked downright painful.
This allowed her the freedom to run some and not be tied to my side.
Your question reminds me of how some kids were restrained when I was young. In the 50’s my mom used to take me shopping with her and I vividly recall some kids with a harness on similar to what a dog would have along with a leash.
By today’s standards this is unbelievable, laughable and considered child abuse.
But regarding the thread story, children can be very impulsive without autism. Tragedies happen and are not always someone’s fault.
But for those that blame the parents, should this child have been harnessed and leashed like a dog? Should the parents have had a firm grip on her the whole time? Should the girl have been locked away somewhere so she could forever be safe? Or should she have been drugged into a mindless blob and just shuffle along with mom and dad?
Kids, Dogs....anyone or anything that will run away in a dangerous area - including traffic, needs to be protected.
It happens more often than one might imagine.
Years back, my wife and I, along with our 5-year old daughter and 4-year old son, checked into a downtown Marriott in Atlanta; an umteenth floor high-rise monolith. After check-in, we walked to the elevators (there were 4 or 6 of em in the center of the building, can’t remember) to go to our room. Both of our hands were full with luggage & kids.
When we got to the elevators, the 4-year old broke loose from his mother’s grip, immediately ran into an open elevator and before we could reach him: the door closed and “WHISK”, off it went like a rocket with him in it!!!! Needless to say, sheer panic!!
It took Mariott security over an hour to find him. Finally, they found him somewhere near the top floor, sitting in a corner of a hallway, crying his eyes out for his mom.
They got him back down to the front desk, but they didn’t want to turn him over to us until he identifed us as his parents...that didn’t take long because he literally lunged for his mom’s arms...
It happens. They’re quick and unpredictable at times.
“ That one is for a toddler, can you find one for an older child? A teen or young adult?”
Stout dog leash clipped to his belt?
I wasn’t there. Neither were all the people criticizing the parents.
Thats what harnesses are for…
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