Today I saw an eight year old girl whose parents abandonned her at under one year. She's been with her grandparents, well-meaning folks. She threatened to kill them, when she didn't get her way. Voices told her to hurt people for awhile. Now, the voices comfort her instead. She's getting obese, like the rest of her family because they don't know how to enforce good diet. They say, "she doesn't like that, she wants this." She gets into fights with kids, runs wild all over the neighborhood, and manipulates people. Her family  doesn't know how to contain her. She's desparate for discipline, structure, training to be responsible, love, attention, and help. She's scared. She's smart but mentally ill. She wants the right medication, the right therapy, and a good education.

It's criminal that the various doctors and agencies who have seen her thus far haven't coordinated themselves towards these goals. Especially, no one has helped her family learn how to change their dysfunctional, chaotic, laissez-faire, spoiling ways. I hope I stimulated some good in this direction today.