I find it interesting that ignoring and avoiding a child somehow isn't abusive to people. Abuse doesn't have to be active, you don't have to beat someone to hurt them.
I find the defense of Elaine so amusing because she has spent a long time doing the wrong thing - she had an affair with a married man, when she got him and was living with him she followed his orders to ignore a child, when the man died she threw the now 19 year old out of his dad's house, then she gathered up all of the kid's belongings and threatened to throw them out if he didn't come get them... And yet, now that she's suddenly changed her attitude we are all supposed to believe that she is genuine...
I could argue against trusting any of the older women, including Monica, but I really thought that Elaine would have been the one that most of the community would agree was irredeemable (or close to it). Instead there are very passionate defenders who seem to believe that now she can do no wrong, that she is somehow trustworthy when she has spent a much longer amount of time being unworthy of the MC's trust.