[redwitch]

I've seen this type of behavior and the effects on the family, the child, the friends and community. One of my dearest friends in California has a son who has threatened his family since he was five years old. He's spent more time in child psychiatric institutions than he has at school and he's in his teens now. The family is totally ostracized from the community -- people are afraid to be around him and think the parents aren't doing enough. The mother and father have split up because of the boy but somehow have found the strength to get try again as a couple. The siblings stay away from home as much as possible -- even the street corner when everything is closed is preferable to home. The few friends who have had the courage to remain friends to this family rarely go to their house and, of course, the boy is not welcome in theirs. So, this family is totally isolated from the community.

The only "help" is locking the child up when he becomes violent. Sooner or later, the parents are going to have to make the hard choice -- lock their son up somewhere or let him loose on society. Right now, there really isn't anything in between.

The bigger tragedy is not that children exist like this young man but that there is no help for the parents. Social services tries to force the parents to give up parental rights and then basically locks the child into a "therapeutic" foster home where the child is put on very strong medication and then locked away until adulthood, at which time the child is forced to fend for himself. The courts will lock a child like this away, give it treatment in a juvenile facility or prison (not jail -- very little treatment occurs there) and then, again, let the child loose with no real backup once time has been served.

There are no easy solutions. There is no short-term fix. There needs to be more help and support for the families and continuing help for the child when it reaches adulthood. As long as we keep on doing things the way we are doing them, we will continue to hear of tragedies of this sort.