IMO, this women continues to do talk shows, book signings, events all the while leaving her 8 kids home. With all the talk of Jon & babysitters would you schedule yourself to be away from home?? Previous posters have said she has plenty of money, her book could sell itself, there is no need for her to be on the road as much as she is. Its called keeping your family together!!!
this is a dynamic i find disturbing-and it was one i saw commonly in social services.
a parent's statements about the negative and allegedly dangerous, neglectful or inappropriate behaviour of the other parent that when you looked at the situation was totaly contradicticted by the complaining parent's actions OR indicated they were equaly guilty by virtue of their repetative inactions.
i cannot count the number of times allegations by a mom or dad against the other would come up yet it seemed that they had no issues with these alleged issues when they were a couple or it was a matter of needing to leave their children with the other parent for convenience.
i'm sorry, but while i can understand entirely the necessity of providing for your child's financial needs through your employment-there is no excuse for leaving your child in what you truly perceive as a dangerous, neglectful or abusive environment. the most basic need of any child is a safe enviornment-beyond that, while it may not be the preferable circumstances there are public assistance safety nets that will provide them food, housing, medical care and clothing if it becomes necessary to forego one's chosen line of employment in favor of their child's safety.
i have absolutly no respect for anyone who says that their children are improperly cared for by another parent or a childcare provider yet continues to allow them (and facilitate) to be in that situation. if it is a voluntary placement issue (like a non court mandated custody or a paid provider) DO NOT LEAVE THEM. if it is court mandated, REPORT-REPORT-REPORT and demand child welfare investigations-and then sit your freaking butt on the public property outside the location of the kids. while this might not garner much attention for a 'regular' person-you can bet that if kate gosselin did it there would be media coverage 24/7.
it's telling for me that while kate would make a public (media covered) specticle of herself regarding the babysitter during jon's time we continue to see her obligate herself to more and more and more travel and away from home work. if she is truly concerned about the safety of her children during her non custodial time it seems she would make every attempt to minimize her travel such that any sane judge (if it comes down to a true argument over who wants more custody-noone seems to be fighting to get these children at this point) would support her position of minimizing or regulating non parental care providers.
contracts be damned-no sponsor or company that is trying to trade off of kate's current marketable persona would dare pursue a lawsuit and the negative publicity if she bowed out of her obligations and offered her reasoning as the need to be personaly present to provide a safe and stable envirornment for her children.