Police swooped on the home of a Victorian woman last week, after she ‘jokingly’ offered her children for sale on eBay.
The unnamed woman, who is in her early 30s and lives near Geelong, posted pictures of her son and daughter on the internet auction site alongside a “lengthy sales pitch”.
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The auction attracted several bids before the authorities were notified and the listing was removed.
Detectives from the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse unit investigated the incident but decided not to press charges, believing the mother was not seriously trying to sell her children. If the woman had been charged and convicted of Failure to Protect a Child, she could have faced up to 12 months in jail.
The mother is now facing another investigation, this time by the Department of Human Services. A spokesman told the Herald Sun that the department was looking into the family, and could permanently remove the children if they were found to be in danger.
“If there is a serious threat to the children’s wellbeing and the situation is so bad that the only safe option is for them to be taken from home, then that is definitely a possibility,” the spokesman said.
Related: Woman puts kids up for sale on eBay
“This action could attract the attention of the wrong sort of people, whether it was a joke or not, and the family need to understand the risks and receive advice around that.
“We will continue to engage with the family and assess if there are any underlying problems. We need to get to the bottom of why she did this. Is there a mental illness, is the mother not coping or was it simply a joke?”
Your say: Do you think the authorities are overreacting to a funny joke, or should this mother face charges?
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