If you all could send some prayers up for a family in our church, I would appreciate it greatly! A little backstory:
They joined the church when they had 6 kids. Dad was kind of a workaholic and really just a huge jerk (to put it bluntly). Well, with kids 7 and 8 (yep, 8!) people sort of (appropriately) questioned the mother as to how things were going, since the 6 kids sort of had her frazzled, etc. She made it VERY clear that she really only ever wanted 4 kids (although she loves them ALL dearly, obviously, and is great with each one) and Dad said they "had" to have more, as long as they were blessed with the ability to
Fast forward to last fall, when Dad leaves them for a hot young girl. A decision he talks to his kids about:
"She's younger, more attractive, and has time for me" ***?! Hmm.... maybe you could be home and spend some time with your WIFE and the children you desperately wanted. Just my opinion, of course.
Fast forward to today. Mom gets a call from school. Apparently the oldest boy (second oldest overall) who is.... maybe 13? Tried to kill himself in the janitors closet.
The biggest shocker of it all? The school's response. Apparentely he has been talking about wanting to kill himself for months. Red flag, definitely something mom should have been alerted to by now. Even worse, the last few weeks he has been TELLING OTHER KIDS how he would do it. Holy crap. When someone actually has a plan of action, it's REALLY a big deal. Still nothing. Just told the boy "he shouldn't discuss things like this with the other kids".
Even today, when they called her they suggested she call to see his doctor. HUH?! My thought is a little more drastic than that, but what do I know? So she calls, he obviously tells her he needs more than primary care pediatric help, so she calls someone she knows that is a psychiatrist. They aren't taking new patients, but the schools says
"that's fine. we just need documentation that you are aware of the situation and are trying to follow up"
Needless to say, when I can find out what school that is (particularly), my children will not be going there. Sounds to me like they are just covering their butts, but what the heck?! This kid needs help
Sorry that got so long. I just wanted to ask for prayers for the family, espeically the mother who was JUST in the hospital last week as one of her kids was diagnosed with diabetes. She is also terrified that Dad will try and use this against her to prove she is "unfit". Not sure why, because it's not like he wants the kids anyway...
But then I had to add that school vent. Am I overreacting, or is that rediculous?!
ETA: Kyle called my mom and provided her with the psych hotline for Children's hospital, which triages and tries to identify paths of care for any sort of psychiatric sitaution. Hopefully she will call, and they can direct her to an ACTUAL peds specialist or clinic, if not convince her he might need to do at least the partial hospitilization program to get started.