[bayareablues]

I am astonished by this. I cannot believe that someone would give up their child because they don't have insurance! It would seem like there are other options to give up before the child. ie, the second car, big screen TV, etc. Or how about a second job?

Additionally, aren't there are lots of existing federal programs in place to help the disabled with mobility equipment, home health care, etc.? My mother is disabled and its amazing what is available to help with her expenses, but it requires investigation to find that help.

Why would a foster parent be better able to provide for the child's needs? And what about the emotional trauma to the child to wrench them away from the parents? This is unbelievable.

[ChiMark]

My hunch is by putting kids onto the public auction medicaid picks up the tab for meds and special education classes. I know of 3 cases whereby fairly affluent families
gave their children over to the state. I does'nt seem fair to have these adults on housing subsidies and food stamps when their families are capable of caring for these people.
It's becoming too easy for families to dump their kids for the sake of money or convenience.

[snowstorm12]

many people have insurance, but many insurance companies don't cover mental health problems, not even severe problems like schizophrenia. Being put in a mental health care facility is $1,000-2,000 a day. The parents would go broke trying to deal with mental problems.

[cherry_bomb88]

Additionally, aren't there are lots of existing federal programs in place to help the disabled with mobility equipment, home health care, etc.?

ABSOLUTELY!!!! Which is what I'm working on with my state rep, a way to get the people in need and the resources together..see above post!

[ChemistCat]

Okay. Your solution, glib and easy as it sounds, will work for some. However, there are many for whom it is laughable. You are thinking these are kids with a little anxiety or panic disorder. I know parents who are dealing with children who have mental illness so serious they cannot be left unattended. A second job, obviously, is out of the question in this circumstance.

I know a family with a severely autistic child who does not sleep more than 2 hours or so per night. He's 11 and weighs 130 pounds. He will break and attempt to eat glass, which has led to multiple emergency room visits. Everything has to be locked up. He must be having constant hallucinations, but cannot articulate what terrifies him so. He has never smiled or said "Mommy." He is so violent toward non-family members, who terrify him, that nobody else can watch him. His younger sister is blind in one eye because of an attack from him. They had to refit the attic so that the boy could not hurt himself at night. They lock him in there so they can sleep, and he hollers and hits his head on the padded walls all night long. He doesn't play with toys, doesn't use utensils, isn't potty trained (they have to change his diaper, then put special overalls on him so he can't get it back off.) They can't even measure his IQ, which leads to the horrifying idea that maybe under all that dysfunction in the interface, there's a normal intellect, trapped.

He has ten or twelve different diagnoses, and has been on psychoactive medications most of his life, but there's really nothing they can do for him. Giving him up to the state isn't even an option for them because nobody else has been able to manage him at all. They have no life. The father actually has a job and they have health care, but there's no cure at any price for the child's misery, or theirs. It's a life-long obligation. In this case, there's not much your tax dollars could do to help. But I've never begrudged public assistance for people like this one.


My son is autistic but he is high-functioning and a happy, functional person. He's mainstreamed and probably the most mentally HEALTHY person I know. However, my years on an email list for parents of children with disabilities let me know--I really got off light. There are people out there whose lives are living hells, and I cannot imagine how some of them keep from committing terrible acts just to end the suffering they all go through.

Another mother I know has a daughter who has schizophrenia. She has been a ward of the state since her fourth suicide attempt at age 13. She gets to see Ally a couple of times a year. In between episodes, she's a normal teenager, who just wants to go home and be normal, but she can't be. She has to be locked up. Her mother lost her good job over the health care expenses Ally racked up before she ended up giving up custody to the state.

Another mother I know wasn't so lucky. Her son was going through some fairly normal adolescent depression with some acting out. They had a fight over whether he could go somewhere, and he went up to his room mad. He hung himself in his closet. His little brother found him--and saved his life, except he's been in a coma ever since. His mother does all his caretaking. Someday I guess she'll be too old or sick herself to do it, and it'll be the taxpayer's responsibility, I suppose.

What do you do. I'm all for personal responsibility and for taking care of your own children, but sometimes it's way too much to do...and sometimes, a stitch in time saves nine.


Liberals and conservatives are helpless alike before this problem. Sometimes you can't do anything about something awful.

[MEGoody]

"It would seem like there are other options to give up before the child. ie, the second car, big screen TV, etc. Or how about a second job?"

Depending on the severity of the mental illness, what kinds of medications/treatments are needed, whether hospitalization is required, etc., the things you've suggested simply would not cover the costs. I'm sure these cases don't consist of kids who only need counseling a couple times a month.

Having said that, I thought there were a number of options available, e.g. non-profit organizations that will help. Maybe I'm wrong.