A young woman’s Facebook profile was the center of controversy this week in the Dominican Republic. Estephany Taveras Estévez posted a few pictures of her two-year-old daughter sitting on her lap and drinking beer. The photos first gained attention from her friends and contacts and later became viral. Based on the comments from the 18-year-old mother, she used to drink while she was pregnant with her baby, as she said; “she likes it since she was in the womb.”
Although the legal drinking age in the Dominican Republic is 18, making the mother legal to drink, she has been doing it since before she was allowed to, based on the previous comment. It's safe to say that since the baby is two years old and she's 18, Taveras Estévez was pregnant when she was 15-16 years old, putting her under the legal drinking age, thus making her actions illegal. When her friends questioned her about the baby’s drinking, the young mother replied, “If I don’t give her a sip, she’ll cry,” and “It’s just a little bit!”
The pictures are dated November 12, but there’s yet another picture from November 9 with the same baby holding a cup with beer, which had people questioning if this was a frequent practice by the mother. After the pictures made rounds online, police were able to get a hold of Taveras Estévez, who lives in Santiago, a northern province, and arrested her. The attorney general’s press office revealed that Taveras’ child is under the care of the prosecution of Santiago and will be placed temporarily in a foster home. So far, there’s no information on the charges against the mother.
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