Photo of smoking baby on Facebook causes outrage
Police investigate after picture of six month old with cigarette in his mouth posted on social networking site
Mum Rebecca Davey, 18, was reported by her friends to Facebook bosses after a picture of her baby with an unlit cigarette between his lips was uploaded by a relative.
The police visited the teenager’s home in Southend, Essex, but found there were “no immediate concerns”. The matter has since been referred to Social Services.
Michelle Elliott from the child safety charity Kidscape said, "The problem we have here is that we have babies having babies and they think something like this is funny. Even though the cigarette is not lit, what kind of message does this send out? It's completely inappropriate and irresponsible."
Rebecca’s Facebook profile shows mixed feelings from her friends. One friend wrote, “don’t worry bec, whoever knows you knows that your not what they are making you out to be x”. However, others were less supportive.
Rebecca’s family have not made a comment, but Rebecca has posted a comment on her Facebook profile stating, “id Wish People Just Leave Me Alone Yeah ive Got The message”.
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