This is interesting but I didn’t see any proof this is a real story. The website says they received it in an email, and maybe they did, but I didn’t see where they made any attempt to check that the kid really exists.
It is real sad to say. The sick parent even had this poor child in drag showing up to perform on good morning America or one of those shows a couple of years ago. Child abuse.
Your skepticism is perhaps valid.
OTOH, I think we’ll be seeing many more stories like this in the future.