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Not Heidi

(1,459 posts)
Wed Dec 28, 2022, 11:42 PM Dec 2022

I am so furious I can't see straight. (cross-post: Lounge)


My 16-y/o nephew injured his knee and elbow at work last night (McDonald's). (For starters, the manager didn't send him home. I doubt she even wrote it up.)

Myles asked his 'rents to take him to the ED. They refused, saying let's see how it feels in the morning. This morning, he said, "they didn't care."

I asked him how he'd feel if I talked to his mom about it. This was his reply:

"She never listens and she'll just yell at me for telling others our business. . . . Since I was little it's always been "What happens in our house stays in our house." So I get yelled at every time I mention something to someone."

He has a number of psychological problems, and terrible anxiety is a big one. He's not going to ask again to go to the doctor because they'll yell at him. Instant panic attack. Same for McDonald's: the thought of "rocking the boat" panics him.

I am so furious that I can't see straight. I am powerless from here, 1,800 miles away. But I'd be powerless there, too: I'm not his parent or guardian.

FUCK.
FUCK.
FUCK.

Addendum to post in the Lounge, re some advice rec'd there: I am afraid to contact CPS due to his parents' inevitable reaction: they'll kick the shit out of him. Not to mention how his anxiety will spike as soon as CPS knocks on the door. And those two things will be just the beginning for him.
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I am so furious I can't see straight. (cross-post: Lounge) (Original Post) Not Heidi Dec 2022 OP
;-( elleng Dec 2022 #1
Legally Timewas Dec 2022 #2
What I would do mahina Dec 2022 #3

Timewas

(2,291 posts)
2. Legally
Wed Dec 28, 2022, 11:54 PM
Dec 2022

That is a form of child abuse, you can report it by phone to the local police and Child Protective services... I would.

mahina

(18,938 posts)
3. What I would do
Thu Dec 29, 2022, 01:20 PM
Dec 2022

Is invite him to come visit me and send a plane ticket for a time when he has off from school. Line up some gig so that his parents can’t say no he can’t quit your job, and see if you like him enough to live with him; if so, invite him to stay. And then tell his parents he’s staying for a while.

Help him find his interests and pursue them, including education or training and a career and don’t bother with them anymore. That’s what I would do. Give him a good life.

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