http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20377493
Reading this report just highlights the lack of services, or access to services, we have in this country for children in crisis. It is shameful and needs rectifying. Children are our future and we need to wake up to this FACT and invest in them! Its not enough to think that wonderful charities such as Children in Need, or Childline sufficiently tick the box, this needs to be a cultural shift in attitude. We need to provide education and funding to encourage growth, support and safety for those in need, intervention and treatment for those in crisis and an attitude of compassion rather than judgement for the situation this population finds itself in – ask yourselves: who set their society up like this?
So similar to the situation I often find myself in, talking to a parent who is struggling with a difficult child who is under 12. I almost always work with the parent/s first, look at the environment they have deliberately or unwittingly set up, and consider the ‘difficult behaviour’ as a clue that points to the culture of the family, or unresolved parental issues. Of course when that child begins to act out in ways that are not acceptable the problem becomes theirs AS WELL, and there needs to be containment, consequences and constructive criticism. But we must not forget the source.
I see unresolved issues like litter lying around, and a child will pick it up. They cannot help it. They are primed from birth to soak up the environment and they have barely any filter. Then they carry this litter as if it is their own and are judged accordingly. This is called scapegoating, and it thrives in a culture of denial. I believe this is happening on a micro and macro scale. The problems are simple and we complicate the answers with self centredness, greed, and red tape.
I mean, tell me WHY there is no teen rehab in this country?
You make excellent points, I agree the services for children are extremely poor and those that exist are usually run badly and have huge waiting lists. I thought the metaphor at the end of your text really summed up where we are in relation to ‘services’ –err, still handing out refuse sacks to our children and incidentally, ‘greed, red-tape and self-centredness’ are excellent descriptive word, characters that could have easily been included in Bunyan’s classic.
Of which this is my reply…”What a fool” quoth he, “am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom called Promise; that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle” If we wait for government to bring about change to children and adolescent services we will wait forever, someone needs to take the lead and open the locks!!