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Most of us have at least a surface level understanding of what obvious signs of child abuse and neglect look like.

If a child appears uncared for at school, if there's unexplained injuries, a kid who shows fear around parents and caregivers.

These red flags are dramatized on TV and in movies, and they're painstakingly detailed in true crime documentaries and podcasts.

But how easy is it to spot abuse when the perpetrator is a mother who at first glance

seems like the picture of maternal devotion?

From K.E.A. and Dallas, this is Think. I'm Courtney Collins in for Chris Boyd.

Munchausen by proxy, or medical child abuse, can be incredibly tricky to catch and even more difficult to prosecute.

We're joined today by Mike Weber, who co-authored a book with Andrea Dunlop called The Mother Next Door, Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by proxy.

Mike, welcome to think.

Thank you for having me.

So, Mike, tell me a little bit about your law enforcement background and how you became so focused on cases of medical child abuse.

It was completely by happenstance.

You know, I had retired my first retirement from Arlington Police Department and gone to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office as an investigator in their crimes

against Children's Unit.

One of these cases came in right after I got there.

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