What to do When Human Services Don't Do Enough
As some of you already know, my friend and fellow Glow member, Ember, has been having trouble with her mental health. She is in an household run by her abusive mother and is having trouble getting her mental health in check as her mother is unwilling to aknowledge that mental illness is any illness at all.
I have given Ember until Monday so she can bring this up herself, as I do not wish to intrude on her privacy. I think this is a way of earning her trust although if I could get her out sooner I would. I live in Michigan and she in Wisconsin. As I have no income or way of getting there, the most I can do is make a few phone calls and send some encouragement from afar.
I've been informed by Ember that the last time she tried to have this issue addressed by Human Services they did little more to the mother than give her a slap on the wrist. They threw her in jail for a week and she returned home there after. I don't know if this has anything to do with the system as a whole or because at this time last year she was still a minor and couldn't be afforded the same treatment as an adult. Now that she is though, I wonder if she'll get better treatment by Human Services or if it is I suspect will be allowed to fall in the cracks and nothing of real significance will be done to the mother.
Any ideas?
Should I shame Human Services into the appropriate course of action, that is throwing her mother in jail for an extended period of time and making her see a prison psychologist to address her abusive tendencies toward Ember? I was planning on doing this by posting Ember's story on a forum specifically for those who have been abused. Or if Human Services for her area has a Facebook, shame them on that.
I just don't want her to fall through the cracks like so many people with her background do through an ineffective system.
I've never had to deal with Human Services before and don't know what to expect.
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