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Yikes!! 6 year old sent to psychiatric ward by school against parent's wishes!


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I cannot believe this. A school sent a 6 year old boy to psych ward despite parents wishes to instead seek psychiatric help that same day:(

 

I get that one must take seriously the a person's expression of a wish to die as a nurse. OTOH the fact that he is 6 years old and suffers from separation anxiety makes this idea sound bad to me. I certainly hope they at least least mom and dad got to stay with the boy at all times since nursing normally encourages this as a correct thing to do for pediatric patients.

 

I think this is wrong. I think the parents and a professional could have prevented this psych ward admission.

 

http://moms.today.com/_news/2011/02/15/6058506-6-year-old-committed-to-psych-ward-against-moms-wishes

Edited by priscilla
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We were in a very similar situation with J-we now homeschool :D

 

I do want to say that J's "issues" he was having at school were NOT at ALL what the school thought it was. His *physical* health was impacting his processing disorders which they swore up and down was a mental illness. This was a private school as well, I guess they thought because we were paying for his education that they could bully us even more.

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I agree! He is so young and this could most definitely traumatize him further. It's a little tricky, though, as I do see the other side. Schools know that many parents of troubled kids would do nothing to help their child. If they think the child is at risk, they are feeling that have to be SURE he is helped. At the very least, the mother should be able to come with him.

If I were the mom, I would be getting therapy and starting to homeschool.

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Well I watched the video and IMHO if I were the mom I would lose the video games IMHO. I do sympathize with her though. I get it that one must take seriously a threat to harm oneself but I still think there might have been some happy medium here. I am glad that school acted on this but I think there needs to be some flexibility and common sense.

Edited by priscilla
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:mad::angry::cursing::banghead::crying: I am so tired of being outraged! I need to stop reading these stories for my health....but I don't want to be an ostrich. My heart aches for this boy and his family. His father is/was deployed, and now they have to deal with THIS? Shouldn't "don't further tramatize the 6 year old" come under "do no harm?!" :glare:

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I guess my thinking is that a 6 year old would probably not have the means to kill himself and could easily be prevented from doing so with parental instruction. An older kid, I would be more concerned especially 10 and up but I could be wrong. Of course, I think it should still be taken very seriously but I just think there must be some happy medium to safeguard this kid.

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He's only six - with any luck, he won't even remember it. :)

 

(of course that doesn't make it okay!)

Oh, I'm sure he will remember this. And it will follow him for the rest of his life. He now has a psychiatric record which will come up every time there is a thorough back ground check. So many doors have closed for this little boy by what the school has done.

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Absolutely amazing! I can't believe that the school -- or anyone other than a parent -- has the authority to make a decision like this. It's almost like some sort of sci-fi nightmare. And I wonder if the parents will now be required to pay for his "treatment" as well?

 

Lisa

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He's only six - with any luck, he won't even remember it.

 

(of course that doesn't make it okay!)

 

Oh, I'm sure he will remember this. And it will follow him for the rest of his life. He now has a psychiatric record which will come up every time there is a thorough back ground check. So many doors have closed for this little boy by what the school has done.

 

I figured being so young... I had a bunch of 'significant' things happen in my own life at 5/6 and I don't remember much of it at all.

 

A back ground check (I assume you mean when he's an adult) is gonna find stuff from the age of SIX? What kind of doors?

 

I feel like I need to repeat though - I am NOT saying "this is okay". I'm just saying that hopefully he won't remember this big ugly thing that happened.

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What? I specifically said "that doesn't make it okay!" ... I was just commenting on how young he is and hopefully he won't remember it.

 

He will remember it. Every bit of it.

 

He's only six. He might, or he might not. Not everyone remembers everything that happened in their life when they were that little - I know I sure don't. Maybe some do. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. I don't know. It was just a comment because of how little he is. :)

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I figured being so young... I had a bunch of 'significant' things happen in my own life at 5/6 and I don't remember much of it at all.

 

A back ground check (I assume you mean when he's an adult) is gonna find stuff from the age of SIX? What kind of doors?

 

I feel like I need to repeat though - I am NOT saying "this is okay". I'm just saying that hopefully he won't remember this big ugly thing that happened.

You can't get into the military if you have psych record. Yes, even if you were underage. That is just an example.

 

I know someone that was erroneously placed in a psych ward as a child (not for psych reasons...more like temporary placement). That woman is almost 60 and it has affected her her entire life.

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I figured being so young... I had a bunch of 'significant' things happen in my own life at 5/6 and I don't remember much of it at all.

 

A back ground check (I assume you mean when he's an adult) is gonna find stuff from the age of SIX? What kind of doors?

 

I feel like I need to repeat though - I am NOT saying "this is okay". I'm just saying that hopefully he won't remember this big ugly thing that happened.

Yeah, because it is on a medical record. I don't think the military will take him. He will never be a politician. Most paramilitary organizations (police, fire, park ranger) won't take him.

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Oh yeah! It will follow him. My dh's employer, big computer firm, does work for the DoD and as a condition of employment on a DoD contract, the employee has to give permission for a search of his/her medical records and it goes all the way back to birth! Also, as part of the security clearance, school records are searched as well. My brother is on one of these accounts and he some serious "splaining" to do about the three speeding tickets he had in a three year period. Thankfully, it had been a few years since that happened and he was able to convince the government that he was a good boy now!

 

Two guys I went to college with couldn't get a job after college because of some nefarious incidents in their high school days. They weren't all that "nefarious" but it was just bad enough that when competition for jobs is tight, the clean nosed applicant wins.

 

I feel bad on every level for this little boy and it is disgusting the ramifications this could very well have in his adult life!

 

Faith

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I am not surprised that they had him transported for a psych eval - I imagine that is the protocol for pretty much any school district. School personnel are not qualified to make a determination of pscyhological stability. They did call mom - her response was not adequate in their eyes I am sure (a therapist is not qualified to do a psych eval either.)

 

I *am* surprised that he was held for 72 hours after the pscyh eval. Having been through the process, it seems to me that unless he was actively suicidal (or a current danger to others) he wouldn't have been held at all after the eval.

 

As for preventing him from going in the military, I thought only incidents after age 12 are reportable?

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As for preventing him from going in the military, I thought only incidents after age 12 are reportable?

 

I've never had to go back to birth for any of my security clearances, and neither has DH (who holds a very high clearance). It's always been anything under 15 didn't count. I went to a psych when I was child and b/c it was before I was 15, I didn't have to list it when I enlisted.

 

I've also never had to go back more than 10 yrs into my history for anything. Going to a psych for PPD didn't have any negative repercussions on my most recent clearance.

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IMO, the school did the right thing. Yeah, the mom said she was going to get him into see a counselor. One never knows, though, if that is going to happen or if the counselor is just someone she knows at church who "feels led to help counsel people" and is not licensed or qualified. They HAD to ensure that he was getting help. May sound like CYA to some, but, really, there would have been outrage, too if they had sent him home to a mom who said she was going to get him help and it ended in tragedy.

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Young children DO commit suicide, horrible as it is to think of this.

 

I agree that I have heard of 8 or 9 year olds doing that:( I was just thinking was there no alternative that could be equally effective in assessing the situation:( It is just hard to imagine a 6 having the where with all to do this:(. I agree that a threat to kill oneself must be taken seriously, but I wonder if he expressed a plan which would make it even more serious I think...

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I truly feel bad for the mom and the little boy. But I think the school did the right thing in having him evaluated, with or without the mom's permission. I didn't watch the video, so I cannot comment on that.

 

I do hope the mother will have him in counseling. It must be so hard on children of deployed parents. Poor thing.

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I've never had to go back to birth for any of my security clearances, and neither has DH (who holds a very high clearance). It's always been anything under 15 didn't count. I went to a psych when I was child and b/c it was before I was 15, I didn't have to list it when I enlisted.

 

I've also never had to go back more than 10 yrs into my history for anything. Going to a psych for PPD didn't have any negative repercussions on my most recent clearance.

 

That is what I thought. When my cousin went in the Marines, there was no issue with his psych issues when he was a child (he didn't have any past age 12.) You couldn't find medical records for me before the age of 13 - I didn't have a consistent doctor and no one remembers who I saw.

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Oh, I'm sure he will remember this. And it will follow him for the rest of his life. He now has a psychiatric record which will come up every time there is a thorough back ground check. So many doors have closed for this little boy by what the school has done.

:iagree:

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For those of you that posted that psych record searches only went back to the age of 12 or 15, that's really interesting. I wonder if it had something to do with the nature of my brother's employment. He showed me the paperwork and it clearly stated that his entire medical history back to birth would be searched. Not only that, but he could not be considered for the position unless my sister and I also had a clearance check and our medical records and school records were searched back 9th grade or 14! Seriously, I signed that paperwork last March and so did my sis. To say we weren't happy about it, is to say the least! But, my brother really needed out of his old job and this was the position being offered so we relented. He felt so bad about having to involve us in it. Thankfully, both sis and I are pretty squeaky clean.

 

I wonder what the deal is?? I saw the paperwork and read it more than once because I did a double take when he presented it to me.

 

Dh knows for a fact that a previous employer went back as far as the age of 10 because the man actually asked dh about an incident from 5th grade. HMMMMM......

 

Faith

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My daughter was less than a year old when Hurricane Katrina came through. She has said things since that strongly indicate to me that she has fairly detailed memories of the aftermath. I definitely fall into the he will remember this camp.

 

Incidents like this and the attitude behind them are a major part of why I homeschool. I do not want people like those who made this decision to have access to my child.

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DS1 had a dx of Separation Anxiety Disorder when he was 5 and dh was deployed. A 72 hour hold with strangers...that would have destroyed him. He was unable to be in a different room from me for months due to dh's deployment. It took years to recover from the deployment (though he's just fine now, at 10)...I can imagine that he would never have recovered from something as traumatic as a hospital stay. I understand the school's position but separating a child from the parent when the child has separation anxiety disorder? Now that's just idiotic. Some kids have a harder time with deployment than others. Why make it worse?

 

Anyway, I am not able to look at this story clearly because of our experiences with ds1. But the story sure makes me mad.

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You can't get into the military if you have psych record. Yes, even if you were underage. That is just an example.

 

I had no trouble getting into the Army, and I had quite an extensive psychiatric record. I was hospitalized several times as a teenager for suicidal thoughts and attempts, and the job I ended up training to do was one that also required security clearance. It was the bad knees and the epilepsy getting worse that finally made them discharge me.

 

Of course, I had a 99 on the ASVAB, and a sky-high score on the DLAB. I sometimes think the number of things the military is willing to overlook is directly proportional to your test scores. :001_rolleyes:

 

ETA: Also thought I should add that psychological issues while you're in the Army don't get you booted, either. At the DLI it was common for someone to get shipped off to the nut hut every weekend for some kind of psychotic episode or suicidal thoughts. They'd come back and continue with their training.

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This is why we homeschool ds7! My biggest fear was him being put in a facility against our wishes and honestly it would have destroyed everything we have been working so hard on :(

 

I can't even click on the link because just the title of this thread brought up all that fear we faced a few years ago before ds7 was on meds and getting help :(

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For those of you that posted that psych record searches only went back to the age of 12 or 15, that's really interesting. I wonder if it had something to do with the nature of my brother's employment. He showed me the paperwork and it clearly stated that his entire medical history back to birth would be searched. Not only that, but he could not be considered for the position unless my sister and I also had a clearance check and our medical records and school records were searched back 9th grade or 14! Seriously, I signed that paperwork last March and so did my sis. To say we weren't happy about it, is to say the least! But, my brother really needed out of his old job and this was the position being offered so we relented. He felt so bad about having to involve us in it. Thankfully, both sis and I are pretty squeaky clean.

 

I wonder what the deal is?? I saw the paperwork and read it more than once because I did a double take when he presented it to me.

 

Dh knows for a fact that a previous employer went back as far as the age of 10 because the man actually asked dh about an incident from 5th grade. HMMMMM......

 

Faith

 

How do they do that? I am just wondering, especially for people who predate wide spread computer use.;) I have a hard time even getting a transcript from the high school I didn't graduate from! Why? Because your school records went from school to school with you, but very little was kept in it.

 

In the 5th grade I got in trouble at school for doing something pretty stupid. I can't imagine that it was documented anywhere other than at the school.

Do they really keep all those paper records? It would take warehouses!

 

I'd like someone to do a serious security clearance on me and then tell me why I got ISS in the 9th grade.:lol:

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How do they do that? I am just wondering, especially for people who predate wide spread computer use.;) I have a hard time even getting a transcript from the high school I didn't graduate from! Why? Because your school records went from school to school with you, but very little was kept in it.

 

In the 5th grade I got in trouble at school for doing something pretty stupid. I can't imagine that it was documented anywhere other than at the school.

Do they really keep all those paper records? It would take warehouses!

 

I'd like someone to do a serious security clearance on me and then tell me why I got ISS in the 9th grade.:lol:

 

From what I've heard, when it comes to security clearance, the amount of debt you carry is far more of an issue than how many times you had detention in elementary school. They want to establish your character, yes, but someone with a six-figure debt load and eight kids is going to be much easier to pay off for information.

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Renee in Fl,

 

I don't know what they were able to drudge up! Truly, I know what I had to sign that they would be allowed to do and what my sister and my brother had to sign. So, what we had to agree to versus what they could actually get access to may have been two completely different things. I do know that the private school I attended for high school did get a request for my disciplinary records and they called me to ask if this was legit. They got that far. I don't know if the public school prior to that had anything they released.

 

I really do not know how far back they were able to go. Who knows because it's all going to depend on how far back all of those paper records were stored. Seems crazy for us oldies. But, in this age, I can imagine a seven year old's records being stored for many, many years and with everything linked by social security number, you'd have to be Amish opt out. I do know that my brother's medical records were checked all the way back. My mom had to give him a list of every doctor he'd seen and every medical facility he'd received treatment at during his entire childhood and twice they called and asked him if he was sure he'd listed everything. IT WAS INSANE! I don't know that they were looking for but clearly the competition was so fierce for the job that the employer was looking for anything they could use to eliminate someone from the pool.

 

I don't think we have any privacy in this nation anymore!

 

Faith

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IMO, the school did the right thing. Yeah, the mom said she was going to get him into see a counselor. One never knows, though, if that is going to happen or if the counselor is just someone she knows at church who "feels led to help counsel people" and is not licensed or qualified. They HAD to ensure that he was getting help. May sound like CYA to some, but, really, there would have been outrage, too if they had sent him home to a mom who said she was going to get him help and it ended in tragedy.

 

 

I've been through something similar - though I got to the school too fast for them to do anything like this. Perhaps - like us - the mother had a therapist the child saw regularly. I was on the phone to ours the minute I stepped out of the school building.

 

The school - despite the fact they KNEW they had the authorizations to contact this therapist and the numbers - did not and then tried to claim I was guilty of medical neglect because I didn't think the utterance was credible. I did call his therapist immediately and he was seen that afternoon. The therapist agreed the threat was not credible - DSS closed the case as unfounded - we pulled the kids out. But I still have that on my record despite my kids having more doctors and specialists than my 87 year old grandmother.:glare:

 

This school could have easily followed up to make sure the mother did what she said she would. They had NO right to commit this boy to a psych ward. My brother spent most of his youth in and out of them - misdiagnosed - and saw some horrid things. You can bet he remembers every bit of it and it's seriously handicapped him.

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I understand people being upset when significant action affecting a child is taken without parental consent, I do, but I have to say the school followed the guidelines which are standard, at least in my state. They have an obligation to have the child evaluated if the child expressed clear suicidal statements, particularly if the child articulated a plan. And I have seen children this age who were actively suicidal (and homicidal, FTR), and I have seen children this age who attempted suicide. How it was handled from there, whether or not the parent was able to accompany the child, and whether or not the child was admitted on a hold are all separate issues dependent on the child's actual mental state, which none of us can know.

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I've been through something similar - though I got to the school too fast for them to do anything like this. Perhaps - like us - the mother had a therapist the child saw regularly. I was on the phone to ours the minute I stepped out of the school building.

 

The school - despite the fact they KNEW they had the authorizations to contact this therapist and the numbers - did not and then tried to claim I was guilty of medical neglect because I didn't think the utterance was credible. I did call his therapist immediately and he was seen that afternoon. The therapist agreed the threat was not credible - DSS closed the case as unfounded - we pulled the kids out. But I still have that on my record despite my kids having more doctors and specialists than my 87 year old grandmother.:glare:

 

This school could have easily followed up to make sure the mother did what she said she would. They had NO right to commit this boy to a psych ward. My brother spent most of his youth in and out of them - misdiagnosed - and saw some horrid things. You can bet he remembers every bit of it and it's seriously handicapped him.

 

The school did not commit the child. They referred him for an evaluation. The intake counselor who evaluated the child placed the hold. IME that involves a credentialed doctor reviewing the case as well as the intake counselor.

 

I am not saying mistakes don't happen. I am not saying people always put as much effort as they can into resolving issues like these without hospitalization. I am sorry for your family and the things you have dealt with. But there is not enough information here to know if this school did anything wrong.

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The school did not commit the child. They referred him for an evaluation. The intake counselor who evaluated the child placed the hold. IME that involves a credentialed doctor reviewing the case as well as the intake counselor.

 

I am not saying mistakes don't happen. I am not saying people always put as much effort as they can into resolving issues like these without hospitalization. I am sorry for your family and the things you have dealt with. But there is not enough information here to know if this school did anything wrong.

 

And obviously, if the counselor thought that something about the boy warranted a hold, the school was absolutely correct in having the evaluation in the first place. If my dd were in a public school and said anything about wanting to kill herself, I'd sue the school if they DIDN'T get her immediate help.

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The school did not commit the child. They referred him for an evaluation. The intake counselor who evaluated the child placed the hold. IME that involves a credentialed doctor reviewing the case as well as the intake counselor.

 

I am not saying mistakes don't happen. I am not saying people always put as much effort as they can into resolving issues like these without hospitalization. I am sorry for your family and the things you have dealt with. But there is not enough information here to know if this school did anything wrong.

 

 

That's what is giving me pause. The school had to follow a certain protocol (probably because kids kill themselves and parents kill their children).

 

If the child was committed without reason, that is the fault of the hospital admitting people, not the school.

 

I feel for that poor child.

 

But reading the headlines today (twins killed by father, disabled girl dismembered by step mother) who is to say who the innocents are? It's fun to slam public schools for overstepping, but parents (homeschooled parents also have their own abuse & murder stories) are not always so credible.

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FaithManor,

 

What was the job that your brother was applying for? There are all KINDS of different qualifications for different jobs and services.

 

I was in the Army and had a high clearance. When I first got my clearance they said in the past "7 years" was what the questions applied to.

 

DH now has an even higher clearance and they only go back 10 years.

 

I had an Army colleague who also had a high clearance and he was in a mental hospital at the age of 14, he had no issues getting in.

 

However, the Air Force has tighter qualifications. My cousin was sent home from Basic after only 5 days b/c they saw all the cuts on her arm from when she cut herself, around the age of 13.

 

The NSA psych evals are tougher than others and I'm sure there may be evals that are even tougher.

 

I know someone who is a rocket scientist "somewhere" and they have to report EVERY drug they take, even aspirin, advil, etc. I'm sure their background check was far more thorough than others. Working with Nuclear weapons would also require a more thorough check.

 

All that to say.... there really aren't any blanket qualifications. Some checks go farther than others and some are more thorough than others. It all depends on what the person will be working with or for.

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FaithManor,

 

 

I know someone who is a rocket scientist "somewhere" and they have to report EVERY drug they take, even aspirin, advil, etc.

 

.

 

 

I can't speak to specifics, but this is unusual. Multiple drug tests would be required, and no way would a simple self-report be enough.

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I can't speak to specifics, but this is unusual. Multiple drug tests would be required, and no way would a simple self-report be enough.

 

It's not that this person isn't supposed to take them, said person just has to let them know if he/she takes anything when she/he goes to work.

 

I have an inkling of the reasons why, having worked in Intelligence myself, but obviously, they can't explain it to me and I can't explain my inkling, so.... it is what it is :)

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