I can’t count the number of times I came home from work and complained to poor Doug about how frustrating and depressing it was to not be able to really help the people who needed help the most. Lacking any other option to get services for their child, parents gambled with the odds by handing their children over to the state. Teenagers getting thrown to the sharks on their 18th birthday. Parents helplessly watching their intelligent 18-year-old tailspin out of control without medications or therapy. Families torn apart by frustration and pain. Parents hoping that their own child gets arrested. The magic three day fix that is supposed to make people well enough to be released from medical care. I still hear someone’s voice in my head talking about “Little Timmy” playing with her children and everyone in East TN is haunted by the complete loss of common sense that necessitated an edible roadkill bill. If Senator Burchett can draw the delicate line between families who sincerely want to help their ill relatives and the families who want to lock the ill away forever, he will really be helping the people who need it.
I am in a horrifyingly similar place as the Rudd’s … perhaps not to the same degree, but J. is refusing any meds or treatment now, and is rapidly descending into a very dark place. I truly fear a similar outcome, and I just know that one day, all the fingers of blame will be pointed directly at me. But there is nothing I can do.
It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. You do what you have to do and all that you can do. Then you worry anyway.
Found your comment on Zoot’s site. I didn’t know anyone else makes that cherry “salad!” It’s my favorite dish that my great-grandmother makes for me all the time!