Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Not sure about the legal system for troubled teens

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Dec 14, 2008, at 2:23 PM, Eris Weaver wrote:

> 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.

In our case the family found that they needed to call in the police in  
order for other services to become available. I can't at this moment  
remember the details but city services are pegged to various levels of  
disturbance and these have to be documented. The police and other  
social services agency reports are required to expedite services.

Police and other agencies can also be good sources of information and  
advice.

Neither the police nor social services agencies are necessarily  
adversarial or punitive. They can be very helpful. My son is a police  
officer and I've worked with many more officers in college-level  
studies. They define their jobs as peace-keepers. They are very good  
street anthropologists and sociologists. My son has an incredibly keen  
sense of people and what they are likely to do next.

On this list we've had the same conversations about lawyers as we have  
about police, some believing that calling a lawyer is the worst thing   
you can do. Our lawyer is non adversarial and in a simple phone call  
can help us find ways to view situations and resolve them amicably,  
often without further action on her part.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org