Excellent post DaisyJane.

I have a friend who lost TWO children to anacephaly.  Both they knew about but carried to term anyway, like Grayson's mom did.  Then they had another that did not have anacephaly  so they rejoiced. Then they learned he had a brain tumor in an inoperable place and had to love him until he passed away naturally also. When we were expecting our son after two unexplained stillbirths they were one family who stood by us strongly.  They have five other  lving  children,  three boys  then two girls after  their losses. We have two daughters before our losses and our son now.

God is great.

Shame on facebook.

I wonder how much of it is FB and how much of it is just them deleting things that others report in a large enough volume.  Either way, FB needs to fix their policies.  The likejacking issues went on way too long.

I wonder if the issue was people pushing the pro-life stance and others objecting to it.  Whatever the reason, the pictures should have remained.

A link to the blog (non-FB):

http://oursweetboygraysonjames.blogspot.ca/

A link to the FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Benefit-for-Grayson-James-Walker/247676448648145

Thanks chemgal.

Hi DaisyJane,

Perhaps.

Facebook's story is that a number of complaints came in regarding the pictures and they took action without even reviewing the pictures.  When the parents started asking questions as to why the pictures were removed and why the mother's account had been banned they did an investigation and determined that the deletion and the ban were errors.

So, Facebook apparently responds to some complaints about posted content and will delete said content without reviewing it themselves.  It would be interesting to see the complaints they received and what was being communicated that they apparently took at face value.

It may well be that the pictures crossed somebody's boundaries.  How or why it did so we will most likely never know for certain.

Why folk would complain when they can hide such images so they don't show on their own profiles or they can unsubscribe from the friend who posted them is probably due to an ignorance of having the ability to do that or pure laziness.  Perhaps it is both.

Sadly some people will not or cannot see the value of something which they would not or could not love.  And rather than look away they choose to be offended.

Grace and peace to you.

John

There are exceptional cases where the children do not die.  A woman who was a member of one of our former churches had an anencephalic child in her 20's who she is caring for at home.   I can only imagine how the Facebook banning would make her  feel if she heard about it...

There is a video on the FB link chemgal provided.

Watching them, their smiles, the love radiating from them... them kissing each other... it made me cry. It was not the visual ofa capped child, or knowing how the story ended....it was the love that was soooooo obvious.

In the midst of the video, the cap is removed. I cannot say I did not notice, I did. You cannot help but notice. It however was far from offensive.

It is moving...

SG, did you actually get through the video?  I couldn't make it through the entire thing.  I think my husband thought I was slightly nuts, sitting and crying at the computer!

A couple of years ago I reported a group on facebook because it was making fun of a baby that had died.  The parents had posted pictures of their child and someone had grabbed the pictures and started "Dead Fetus in a Pink Hat" mocking the whole idea of taking pictures of a still born child and certainly making fun of the idea of dressing the child with a little pink hat.  I clearly don't know the background of this story or what happened with facebook; I imagine that the sheer volume of reporting makes it all but impossible to check in to each case individually so they probably do have a delete first, double check if there are any complaints later kind of policy.  The pictures themselves are not offensive at all, but they can certainly be used in offensive ways.  THAT should be what is prevented. 

I am surprised for sure.

i did not know that FB would delete content based on complaints.  that seems at odds with the idea that the site is a way to share with friends.

now you only get to share things that others approve of?

Anecephaly is a sad tradgedy.  Now with most if not all pregnancies having an ultrasound ( I wonder how that has happened, it used to be only pregnancies that were unusual) parents usually know.

But alot are still delivered.  I have attended a few and how long the child lives really depends on how much of the brain stem forms.  Some die with in minutes/hours, i have seen two go home and last a few weeks.

I haven't seen a case like that baby where the face is affected.  the ones I have seen are perfect up to the forehead.

FB should be ashamed

The pictures and videos are beautiful and my heart goes out to his family.

But ... there are many offensive pictures on facebook that should be reported and removed.

chemgal,

I watched the whole video along with my wife. Yes, we cried. Yet, in our home, crying is not something we fear or try to avoid. They were tears of love. That this family loved so, that we- as people- are each capable of that kind of love if we choose it... I cried because I felt their love and also I cried for when I have not been as loving, that we, as a world are not... There are times one needs to cry.