Re: Not sure about the legal system for troubled teens
From: Eris Weaver (eriserisweaver.info)
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:23:37 -0800 (PST)
I agree completely, Rob, that
        > the police and court systems are not designed to, 
        > nor do they, heal anybody
And that 
        >  the legal system was and is a huge failure in 
        > solving teen angst. 

And perhaps I overreacted to the original post. But the cluster of behaviors
described - not just setting fires but harming animals, which is a real red
flag - sounded more extreme than the "just kids being kids" examples that
you mention.

And of course I am reacting out of my own (fairly recent) personal
experience, and my own pre-foster-parenting level of denial about the
ability of community to solve and heal all ills.  Bringing in the legal
system is a last resort, and only done for the safety of the rest of the
family... one of the things I have learned over the past year is that after
you have tried everything else  you know how to do, you have to do what you
can to save the rest of the family.  And I have seen too many communities
fail to make that judgment call soon enough.

eris


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