What Future Do Kids Have If Mental Health Care Bankrupts Their Families?

What Future Do Kids Have If Mental Health Care Bankrupts Their Families?

We have to face the fact that, as much as we might not openly admit it, we live in a society where kids with mental illness have very little hope, and we don’t care enough to change that. They, their parents, and their siblings are “others” that we’d rather not be bothered with. Societally, we’d rather they went away than be bothered with figuring out ways to help them.

That’s not good enough.

Sharing – Nearly 1 in 10 American adults, 1 in 5 teens report having depression

Sharing – Nearly 1 in 10 American adults, 1 in 5 teens report having depression

The mental health of Americans has been in decline for years. Don’t let the political talking points fool you into thinking this is pandemic related. Shutdowns, masks, social distancing, and all the other things that happened due to the pandemic did not cause a spike in mental health issues like depression out of nowhere. The spike was already happening.

Sharing – QAnon’s Obsession With SaveTheChildren Is Making It Harder To Save Kids From Traffickers

Sharing – QAnon’s Obsession With SaveTheChildren Is Making It Harder To Save Kids From Traffickers

This is the reality, and why the lies are not harmless.

“In reality, child trafficking in the U.S. doesn’t look like a bunch of Hollywood and D.C. elites performing satanic rituals on children they stole from suburban playgrounds. Instead, kids who are sexually exploited are often poor, children of color, immigrants, or some combination of the three, and they’ve often been in the child welfare system or run away from home. In 2018, 1 in 7 kids who were reported as runaways to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were likely victims of child sex trafficking, according to UNICEF.

Sharing – Many Sex Offender Registries Are Rife With Errors

Sharing – Many Sex Offender Registries Are Rife With Errors

The whole idea of a registry was to ease the minds of panicked parents so they would check the public registry, know that their lovely, upper-class neighborhood didn’t have any offenders in it, and go back to ignoring any talk of their kids being at risk for sexual abuse.

None of that has ever been true. As you read the story below, you’ll see that there are 25,000 offenders that law enforcement has completely lost track of, many of whom now live among poor communities where parents do not have the same resources that others do to keep their kids safe and have continued to offend.

What you also won’t see is that registries do nothing, absolutely nothing, to protect against offenders who haven’t been caught and convicted. That would be the vast majority of cases, by the way.

Link – U.S. college teaches veterans to heal each others’ mental wounds |

Link – U.S. college teaches veterans to heal each others’ mental wounds |

This seems like a really good idea. I hope it is massively successful. “William James College wants to bridge the cultural divide between veterans, some of whom view seeking mental health care as akin to admitting weakness, and psychologists and counselors, many of whom know little about military culture.” https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-psychology-idUSKBN18M116

Link – Report details widespread sexual abuse problems at USA Gymnastics facilities

“An Indianapolis Star investigation found that at least 386 young gymnasts claimed they’ve been sexually assaulted by coaches, gym owners and other adults working in gymnastics over the past 20 years and that many of the suspected adults were allowed to move from gym to gym, including facilities that were certified by USA Gymnastics. That…