Local Stories by Local People
updated: Feb 23, 2013, 2:30 PM

The adopted daughter of a former Santa Barbara resident has been arrested in Mexico for the death of her mother, Joyous Heart.

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 377943P	2013-02-23 05:32 PM
As an adopted person, it kind of rubs me the wrong way when they include this fact in an article. If she was recently adopted and it was germane to the story, sure (hard to tell with such scant detail). But to impugn a connection between adoption and murder? Kinda unfair. They don't put "naturally born" daughter in other cases of murder of a parent. That being said, I am still trying to wrap my head around Mom's name change.
FLICKA	2013-02-24 07:32 AM
What is wrong with "adopted"? Shows the victim was good hearted to try helping a mentally challanged girl, giving her a home and love; probably from the orphanage she volunteered at in Mexico. If it was a "birth" daughter, or she'd been adopted as a baby, she would have been identified as a former Santa Barbara resident, since Heart had only been living in Mexico for 10 years. Such a very sad story!
COMMENT 378113P	2013-02-24 10:47 AM
As an adoptive parent, I noticed it too. On further reading, I do think it's germane to the story to note that the girl was adopted, given her mother's association with the orphanage and interest in troubled girls. However I don't think it belongs in the headline. Parents are often harmed by their troubled teen children; the distinction should be between troubled teens and ordinary exasperating teens, not between bio and adopted. Call us picky, but every day people distinguish between adoptive parents/children and "real" parents/children, and make assumptions about our relationship, reasons for adopting, our children's life histories, etc., based on this distinction.
COMMENT 378164	2013-02-24 02:30 PM
@377943P That the daughter was adopted is a fact. No one impugned any relationship.
COMMENT 378221	2013-02-24 05:31 PM
So very sad to have such a kind heart and have life end this way. RIP.

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