06 June, 2013

If This Is "Help" We Are In Trouble

A single mother that I know was having trouble with her teenage daughter and she went to the agency that used to be known as "Catholic Services" trying to get some support and guidance from a trained case worker. What she got will blow your mind. I'm going to leave names out of it and be rather vague to protect the innocent, but you will get the gist of the story.

This woman's daughter was being very defiant, not coming home when she was supposed to, running with people who the mother deemed unacceptable and ran away from home repeatedly. The mother has very strong suspensions that she was on drugs, based on behavior, illness and extreme weight loss. She called Catholic Services for assistance and once they got involved, things rapidly went downhill. Rather than getting support from the caseworker (who happens to be the supervisor of the center) the caseworker sided with the child and turned on the mother. She told the woman that she was a "Bible thumper" and needed to lighten up and loosen the reigns on her daughter. She went on to tell her that she needed to not be so religious and she needed to give her daughter the freedom to choose her own friends and to come and go as she pleases. She went on to say that it was the woman who had a problem, not the daughter. This woman stood strong and told her that she knew her daughter and that she was on drugs and she was not going to stand by and watch her die. The daughter was given a drug test by the mother, which she failed; but still the caseworker took the daughters side. Basically, she did absolutely nothing but undermine the mother's authority and ridicule her for being a Christian. Mind you... this is supposed to be a Catholic Services center. They changed their name because they did not like the religious tone of the former name.

Long story short, just a few days later, the teenage girl has been arrested for shoplifting, failed another drug test, testing positive for meth, and is now in the hospital due to the damage she has done to her body. When the mother called the caseworker to tell her what had happened, the caseworker told her she was going to close her case and has washed her hands of the situation. 

I write this as a heads up to anyone in Galesburg... if you need help, PLEASE do not go to the Center for Youth and Family Solutions here in town. I've contacted the Catholic Services national offices and am currently waiting a return phone call because I want to find out if they are still affiliated with Catholic Services. I'm hoping they are not, because the woman who is in charge is openly opposed to Christians and in my opinion is not fit to do the job she holds.

1 comment:

Darrell said...

I wanted to note that I have been contacted by Catholic Services and they have assured me that there is absolutely NO affiliation between them and this center. Glad to hear that!