In brief: My sister and her husband adopted a child with special needs many years ago she became more than they could handle, one thing led to another, words were spoken which cannot be unspoken and the child left home with nowhere to go and the parents refuse to take her back in. My mother, being the christian woman that she is, took the child in. The child is a compulsive liar and steals everything that is not nailed down and is unable to maintain any job, even the most menial. My mother cannot bring herself to either put her out on the street or turn her over to the police for the incessant thieving. Any ideas? Is the location relevant? It is a fairly large city. The child clearly has many problems which were never corrected. Does she have recourse against the adoption agency or social agency which placed her with my sister? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
i am just going to bump this once in the hopes that someone might have some info or advice, but i would not mind if some other reader bumped it for me until i get a response.
You could try the National Association of Social Workers’ www.helpstartshere.org website. They have a Social Worker Finder database.
Well, I know that in my area there is a company (____ Mental Health) that my wife works for. They run a crisis unit for adults, and one across town for children. It is a place to stay when there is a mental illness but when there can be other problems (specifically, when they have threatened someone, been brought in by police, but need psychological help to deal with a mental illness - they also get a lot of suicide attempts and such).
I would check into something like this where you are. If I knew your city, I could ask her boss tonight what type of services are available there, as he has a pretty extensive database of resources throughout the US. The biggest thing is that they can help you get a hold of who you need to. For example, Mrs. Small’s work is exclusive of those with retardation (downs, for example) because they lack the manpower or resources to help them, but they will keep them for an hour or two while they call around town and find them a social service that will help. Often, these places have a crisis hot-line, open 24 hours, where you can call for help or information (or your mom could call…they talk to anyone who needs the help)
Sorry I can’t offer more information but (this may sound way too obvious to be practical, but serious) check the phone book, usually under “social services” or something similar, or mental health.
Brendon Small
thanks to you both
Yes, your location is relevant, and how old is the child?
There’s a lot of options out there. You can check in the phone book for social workers as was mentioned. My family is going through a lot of stuff, and the referral that finally worked for us came from our pastor. Get a good social worker or psychologist (you will probably know it when you meet one; I wish that I could give you a better guideline.) and get to work.
At the extreme (FWIW), after my son tried to strangle me for shutting down a internet browser and threatened my wife, we decided to send him to wilderness camp and then a therapeutic boarding school. These are expensive options, but we were willing to trade out our retirement savings for his and our future. Besides, it’s working.