On July 9, 2007, Respondent/Appellant Tikindra G. ("Mother"), twenty years old at the time, gave birth to twins, Samarion S. ("Boy Twin") and Samaria S. ("Girl Twin"). At the time, Mother already had two other children, ages one and two. Although Mother maintained an "on again and off again" relationship with the twins' father, Siarron S. ("Father"), Mother and Father were never married. The twins were born four to six weeks prematurely, at about thirtyfour weeks' gestation. Each weighed about four pounds at birth. Consequently, they spent their first two weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ("NIC Unit") of the Jackson Madison County Hospital ("Hospital"). Initially, the newborn twins had difficulty feeding, but this problem largely resolved while they were in the Hospital. Mother was given extensive instruction on how to feed and care for them once she brought them home, including both written and verbal instructions by the NIC Unit. Mother indicated that she understood the instructions, and she signed an acknowledgement for the discharge nurse stating that she understood the care and feeding instructions. The address Mother had given the Hospital was the address for Mother's grandmother at 2465 Steam Mill Ferry Road. Mother and her children were residing there temporarily, because the utilities in Mother's apartment had been cut off. On July 26, 2007, the day after Boy Twin was released, home health professionals came to the Steam Mill Ferry address to discuss with Mother the services that had been scheduled for her premature infants. In the meeting, Mother signed a consent form for further home health services. The next day, on July 27, 2007, Mother brought the twins to their pediatrician for a checkup. The checkup indicated no problems with the twin babies at that time. During the next week, the home health professionals came to the Steam Mill Ferry address to provide Mother and the premature infants with the scheduled in-home services. When they arrived, Mother's grandmother told them that Mother and the children were no longer living there and that the grandmother did not know Mother's whereabouts. Consequently, the scheduled home health services were not provided to Mother and the babies....

Questions:

1. What did the court conclude regarding whether parental conduct must be "knowing" in order to be considered "severe child abuse"?
2. Why did the mother argue that her failure to adequately nourish her newborn twins was not knowing?
3. Why did the court disagree with her position? What did it base its conclusion that she acted knowingly upon?
4. Do you think the result would have been different if the mother had not been instructed in how to care for her newborns?