I never had my child bolt on me. None of my brothers and sisters or I bolted on my mom.
It is not normal for a five year old to be suicidal. Either something is wrong at home or the boy has mental health issues
The day we moved I took a nap. My husband thought my 3 y.o. son was with me, I thought he was downstairs with my husband. When I woke and realized he was missing, we looked all over and then called the police. Then we found him sleeping on the roof of the car like a cat.
My neighbors across the street lost track of their little girl. They called up the neighborhood chain and police. Eventually they found her sleeping in the closet.
My next door neighbor brought our 15 m.o. back after she walked by his house. We kept a closer guard and I watched as she opened the door and started walking down the street to the coffee shop where my husband liked to take her. I followed but she never knew I was there until I scooped her up at the corner two blocks away.
The little rats do like to make their getaways sometimes and if it’s never happened to you before, you’re not prepared.
If you’ve talked to someone who has been through foster care...there are good loving foster parents out there and there are horrible ones. I learned you don’t ever tell a girl with a crisis pregnancy who has been through foster care that foster care could be a temporary solution for her and her baby. She’d rather kill her child than have it endure what she endured.
Even if Scotty’s foster parents were good people, being taken from his parents and questioned at length by the social workers, seeing his parents at supervised visits and being taken away again would be deeply traumatic.