26
May
2009
OK, so one of the big news stories of the week has been that 13 year old boy who, with his mother, took off to avoid court ordered chemo. The latest, if you’ve been keeping up with this is that they have returned to comply with the court order. Now, I don’t necessarily agree with the decision they made to NOT take the chemo, but I DO agree with the family feeling that they have the right to decide…or rather the kid has the right to decide. After all, in many states a 13 year old girl can walk into a “reproductive clinic” and get on “the pill” or even have an abortion without her parents even knowing about it…but this 13 year old young man isn’t “mature” enough to decide for himself whether or not to undergo some pretty major treatment for his cancer. It just doesn’t make sense, does it?
The government needs to stay out of the concerns of families…..period. Unless there is clear and evident abuse and/or neglect, keep your (the government) noses out of our buisness!
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1
May
2009
If you have ever been a victim of the Children’s Services agencies throughout this “great” nation of ours, you probably have had to undergo a psychological evaluation and/or parenting assessment (which supposedly gives the “system” an idea as to how good your parenting skills are. There are a number of problems with these tests. First of all you have to realize that the results are pretty much subjective, and the interpretation of the data collected is totally up to the person administering the tests. In my case, I was fairly lucky in that I found a psychologist who shares my religious beliefs (Christian). Because of that, my answers, which were more Biblical in attitude than not, were interpreted along those lines. I hate to think of what a secular psychologist would have done with the same results!
There were, however, a couple of things that I wasn’t happy seeing. One of the “assessments” administered had to do with how much conflict there was with my spouse in the household. That’s fine except for my spouse doesn’t live with me…we have been separated for over 3 years now due to his drug use and abuse of my child and me both. So in answering the questions, of course I saw no conflict with him because he’s not there to have conflict with. The interpretation of the test indicated that I saw no conflict within my home period. Now, I am realistic enough to admit that there is conflict in my home with my child at times (sometimes a lot of times), but that is NOT what the questions were asking.
The other problem that came up was that I was noted to have “low energy levels” that could indicate depression. Folks, I am going through the “change”, have type 2 diabetes (and problems with my blood sugars going either too high or too low WILL lead to low energy levels), and go through nights of sleep disturbances caused by PTSD (which is the result of the abuse I suffered at the hands of my estranged spouse). Of course my energy levels are at times low! But there are a few people involved in this process that want to think that it could only be caused by depression. And I AM NOT depressed. Angry, yes. Frustrated with a system in which actions that should be illegal are allowed? Definitely. But depressed…hey, if there is any at all it is totally the result of the actions taken by this agency that is designed to tear families apart.
Posted: Uncategorized