The family may have had a set routine of feedings during the night, as you might for a baby. Possibly this became a point of control, and a point of friction in the family. Children from orphanages often seek ways to control their environment/world, and one way is to refuse compliance. So SM doesn't want to eat, and the parents maybe felt that they had to force her to eat (trying to follow Dr's orders, trying to be "good" parents, responding in culturally appropriate way to authority). So parents resort to punishment to get her to eat. Not excusing, just trying to wrap my brain around it, to see how it might be true and this tragedy might have developed over time (instead of something horrible and sinister from the outset). I can see how it might go down that way, and it leads me to the idea that the standing by the tree was a common punishment, a typical part of the family's dynamics. Perhaps the older child has also experienced this punishment. Ugh. Horrific any way you go about it. I wish there was more support, and more culturally relevant support, for parents of special needs children.