Reading the report, it sounds to me like dad was the main controller of the situaiton, the mother just did what she was told. How many people (of either gender) in an abusive relationship, would do sometimes horrible things, purely because they are thoroughly controlled?
Not that I'm excusing the mother, but part of it also is - who is looking after the other kids? And which parent is the decision-maker? They probably considered that without the father telling her when to drug the kids, the mother left to manage without him would probably be a good parent and that under those circumstances is unlikely to reoffend.
I would like to think that the judge has made a sound, compassionate decision. UNless we had been in the courttoom, we really wouldn't know. Probably not even then.
Marg