Update -

[kyburg]

On the stand Friday, Sieferman recounted being hospitalized in June because of fears she might harm herself and her daughters. She'd lost a job in May, she said, part of a spiral that began in 2004 when she was laid off from the Guidant Corp. (now Boston Scientific).

61 years old, educated to the gills - two daughters from China - and she's now signing her parental rights away (her kids are going to be adopted by a relative) and entering the penal system for at least 11 years.

The kids survived and are doing well - according to the report.

...

Everyone has a breaking point. It's 2009 - and struggling since 2004? I'd have to say the breaking point was passed and ignored - wouldn't you?

The real bitch I have with this? I found this on one of my PAP mailing lists - and the poster was all gushy about 'oh, I'm so glad the kids are okay, I was so worried about them!'

(Uh, how many kids in the domestic foster care system right now?)

Ghad, no wonder then. Mother didn't matter, did she? (And wouldn't a hospitalization for depression trigger SOME set of services? Hul-LO?)

Relative is taking the kids. Yay for being an adult in your majority and untouchable until you actually Do Something Bad. That's the only thing my head will allow that there is a relative able to adopt the kids, but couldn't do a damn thing prior to prevent this from happening in the first place.

Just saying.

Everyone lives. Everyone gets a second chance. Rocks didn't fall, everyone didn't die.

*kicks*

Comments

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Except...when she was hospitalized, who took care of the kids?

And the why of her hospitalization....sorry, you say that's a reason to be in a locked unit, that's pretty clear.

They didn't agree with her, but hospitalized her anyway, released her and then didn't follow her. Yay, I say, for being an adult in your majority and on your own until you actually Do Something Bad. Being clear about your own needs and fears isn't enough.

I'll admit it. If it were me, I wouldn't go home again. Yes, I am that stubborn. No way. If I checked myself in, I wouldn't check out again without knowing there were resources.

Hell, ask Jim. I'm even setting up backup care besides us, family and friends. Like three layers deep (and more). No, my kids will have care - it'll take something bigger than us falling down before things won't be okay. That's how I was raised, and that's how it's going to get passed on. Even if Mom was a single parent...we knew who to go to if something happened to her. And as we've gotten older, we go to each other - to a point - when there's a need.

I am. So angry. That she got left to fend for herself this way. Hello, largest mental health system in California - the penal system! No kidding.

[turandot.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what I mean. She might have had a relative look after the kids while playing down just how bad things had gotten. I can see that happening with an adoptive parent, since I've known bio-parents who do that because they fear how they're going to be judged by others, including their own families, and I would think an adoptive parent can be even more sensitive about this sort of thing (not being able to do what they had thought themselves capable of doing,i.e. providing for the kids).

As for resources, I don't know about California, but I know that in Texas you don't get access to most mental health resources without either good health insurance or an income so low that it's not fit for a person to survive on. Heck, to receive social assistance in Texas (i.e., food stamps, medicaid) you have to be well below the national poverty line. When I found out the actual amount (as part of a school project on poverty in Austin, TX), I was shocked. As a single individual, you'd have to live on an amount of money my husband and I spent in two months out of a year. We're talking no more than 4-6 K a year.

To give you an idea: I am underemployed right now and was in college for 3 years, and my husband is just finishing his PhD. We were living off of fellowship money and student loans for a long time. We could pay the bills, feed the cats and ourselves, and keep a very tiny roof over our heads, and very little more throughout. I can't begin to imagine or understand how horrible the life of people who can qualify for social services are, let alone that of people who do get mental services in Texas.

I don't think things are much better there right now. There might be more of a social net (Texas is one of the worst states to live in when it comes to that kind of thing), but how strained might it be at this time? I'd hazard enough for plenty of people to fall through the cracks.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*nods* And once you're in the penal system?

You finally get treatment. (Andrea Yates had to kill all her kids before she got any.)

Yeah, that's a great strategy. *eyeroll*

EDIT: And wow, so cost-effective. Both in human suffering and $$$.