If your daughter is being physically abusive, yes you do. My daughter, at 14, towered over me and outweighed me by 30 lbs. She got mad because I wouldn't let her date a 21 year old guy after I caught her skipping school to meet this guy. She slammed me up against the refrigerator and knocked me unconcious and would have killed me if my husband hadn't pulled her off of me. Yes, we called 911. She then assaulted the officer and they had to put handcuffs on her to control her. Other times she busted the front glass door in my husband's face, broke a bottle and threatened me with it, and threatened to stab us to death in our sleep. And we are not alone. According to FBI files:
Thirty years ago, arrests of children for assaulting their parents was almost unheard of. During the past fifteen years, there has been a steady increase in children abusing their parents. In 1983, the UCR showed a total of 1,120 arrests of juveniles for domestic violence. By 1995, it had risen to 2,177 cases. In 1991, there were a total of 2,523 children arrested for domestic violence. In 1994, it was 3,743 cases, and in 1996, it had increased to 4,400. Another tremendous jump occurred in 1997 – up to 5,018 cases. In the short period of fifteen years, there has been a 348 percent increase in children committing domestic violence offenses.”
And of course, there will be those that will blame the parent's lack of discipline. In my case, she first strangled a cat to death at age 2. By the time she was 7, I had her in therapy for her violent behavior. She had individual therapy and we participated in family therapy. We even took parenting classes. Several times we were accused of abuse for trying to control her when she got violent, as we were in the aforementioned case, when my husband merely pulled her arms behind her back and put her out the front door. Parent abuse by teenagers is under-reported. These same kids will go on to abuse their spouses and their children if this behavior is allowed to continue. It must be reported and children must learn that there are severe consequences for violent behavior.
My sympathy and prayers are with you and your family..
Surely you heard of the woman who called 911 in California last year who said her daughter was out of control. The dispatcher said, "Do you want us to shoot her?" It was a BS call, as is any call where someone's life is not on the line.
If you or someone else is not in immediate danger, do not call 911. Leave the lines open for actual emergencies.
Yes, you are correct in your situation. The calls that I heard when I did a 911 dispatch sit-in were not anywhere near your situation. The one that could've become explosive did get an officer dispatched. Some of the other calls got an officer dispatched also, but not as an emergency. Unless the officer wasn't busy, he would show up right away. The dispatcher was able to defuse a few too. This dispatcher I sat with was very good. 15 years at it.
I'm sorry you had to go through that with your daughter. I hope you are having a nice day today. "smile"