My niece's mom is the epitome of bad parent. My niece spent the first decade of her life living between my mom and my brother and things were okay until my brother was arrested and the state granted her mom (who abandoned her as a baby) custody.

Niece's mom had another child at this point who had been abused by her father to the point where she was unable to communicate with other people 'normally'. The sister was malnourished and had problems growing, so at 9 years old she could pass for 4-5. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at an extremely early age and her mom was incapable of nurturing a mentally well child, let alone one with the needs that her daughter did. Eventually DCF found their mom unfit and gave both girls to my mom indefinitely which was okay because my mom didn't want to split up the sisters during an already traumatic event.

I came home from university for the summer as this was happening. The little girl was so disturbed and had so many problems communicating, but she got really attached to my mom. She'd start screaming and freaking out if my mom left her alone. Hitting, scratching, biting me or whoever else was there instead of my mom. Even if my mom was there, she basically had the maturity of a 3 year old and would just scream endlessly if someone did something she didn't like and it was doing more harm to everyone than good having her around.

It was really sad. My mom eventually had to ask DCF to find a permanent placement for niece's sister because she just couldn't do it. She lives in a specialized group home for children with her disabilities and she's doing well. She needs the stability and routine that the group home provides and she is doing great in school now.