Doctors say Andrea Yates ready for group outings 
 
 Photo: Handout Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 MARCH 21: (FILE PHOTO) Convicted child killer Andrea Yates is shown in this Texas Department of Criminal Justice handout photo March 21, 2002. Yates confessed to drowning her five children in a bathtub and was convicted on two counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. A Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to reconsider a lower ruling that overturned the convictions of Yates on November 9, 2005 likely forcing a retrial of the case. (Photo by Texas Department of Criminal Justice via Getty Images) less MARCH 21: (FILE PHOTO) Convicted child killer Andrea Yates is shown in this Texas Department of Criminal Justice handout photo March 21, 2002. Yates confessed to drowning her five children in a bathtub and was ... more Photo: Handout Doctors say Andrea Yates ready for group outings 1 / 1 Back to Gallery 
 
 Doctors for Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake mother who killed her five children in 2001, have recommended that she be granted permission to attend group outings with other patients at the state psychiatric hospital where she has been institutionalized since a 2006 retrial found her innocent by reason of insanity, according to her attorney. 
 
 Yates, now 49, was initially convicted of capital murder for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke 2; and Mary, 6 months, in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court granted the new trial, after which she became an inpatient at Kerrville State Hospital. 
 
 She's the only patient at the facility who has never received a group-outing pass, said George Parnham, her attorney. 
 
 A teleconference call between a judge, Parnham and staff at Kerrville State Hospital had been scheduled for Friday, but it was canceled because Parnham was unable to participate. Parnham said Saturday that he doesn't anticipate the meeting being rescheduled until Yates' next annual evaluation in the fall. 
 
 "The doctors recommended (Yates) could benefit from passes for a couple of hours to attend picnics with other patients," said Parnham, adding that the outings would be part of Yates' ongoing rehabilitation and that she would be accompanied by guards and staff at all times. 
 
 In 2012 Parnham said that he believed that Yates was ready for outpatient care. In May of that year, her request to attend church services outside the hospital was denied by a judge. 
 
 Parnham didn't say much about Yates' life inside minimum security Kerrville State Hospital but did note her involvement with arts and crafts. 
 
 She makes greeting cards and sews aprons, which are sold anonymously at craft shows. Parnham says Yates sends the proceeds to the Yates Children Memorial Fund, which began in 2002 to improve the mental health outcomes of mothers of new babies in the region. 
 
 "She wants to help build a legacy for those children to help prevent future tragedies like hers," says Parnham. "Every kid deserves to be raised by a mother free of mental illness." 
 
 Rusty Yates divorced Andrea Yates in 2004 and has since remarried. 
 
 Parnham, his wife and another friend of Yates' are the only visitors she receives. Her brothers don't keep in contact with her, and her mother is said to be in poor health, he said. 
 
 The Yates children are all interred at Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster. ||||| Andrea Yates, the Clear Lake woman acquitted of killing her children in 2001 may soon be granted privileges to leave the mental hospital where she’s being held. 
 
 Yates confessed that she drowned her five children in the bathtub. Medical experts say she suffers from a severe form of postpartum depression. 
 
 A teleconference between a judge, lawyers, and doctors to discuss possible group outings was scheduled for Friday, but had to be canceled due to logistics. 
 
 Yates was initially convicted of capital murder, but the verdict was reversed on appeal. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2006, and committed to the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon. A year later she was moved to a low-security state mental hospital in Kerrville. 
 
 Sources tell our TV partner Local-2 that Yates is the only patient in the state hospital who has never been approved for a group outing pass.
– A Texas mother who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001 is ready to leave the state psychiatric hospital for picnics and other outings with fellow patients, her doctors say. Andrea Yates, 49, has been institutionalized since 2006, when a second trial found her not guilty by reason of insanity of the murders of Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke 2; and Mary, 6 months, reports the Houston Chronicle. She had initially been convicted of capital murder, but medical experts testified that she had suffered from extreme postpartum depression. Yates, who was denied permission to attend church services outside the hospital in 2012, is the only patient at the facility who has never received a group-outing pass, sources tell KTRH. Her lawyer says she has been involved with arts and crafts at the minimum-security hospital, sending the proceeds from anonymous sales of greeting cards and aprons to a charity that works to improve the mental health of new mothers. "She wants to help build a legacy for those children to help prevent future tragedies like hers," he says. "Every kid deserves to be raised by a mother free of mental illness."