I chaperone for my daughter's hs band and orchestra. Some of the kids are at that age where they rebel period, I understand that. Some of the HS kids are truly messed up because of what their parents have exposed them to.
In March one of the band kids killed himself. This was an incredible shock to the rest of the kids. They'd seen him the night before at a school function, afterwards he joined them at a local restaurant. As far as everyone knew everything was fine, even my daughter said he acted normal. The next day he was dead by his own hand. When the obituary appeared in the paper I was shocked. His father wrote the obit. It read, survived by myself his fater, his step mother ***, his natural mother ***, and continued with a list of step-parents. Continued saying that he spent his 17 years living with grandparents and great grandparents. His parents inability or unwillingness to see to his needs above their own, or even near their own, contributed greatly to his deep despair. His grandparents are devastated by his loss, his father just doesn't get it.
I realize that this incident compared to the abduction and murder of a child are apples and oranges, but when the needs and wants of a parent take precedence over children that they have brought in to the world and are responsible for bad things happen whether by direct action or negligence. And the excuse that because they are in bed asleep or they're kids and they don't know, just doesn't cut it, IMO.