Troubled Teens Resources

Fathers who place their daughters in teen boarding schools are performing a painful, but necessary teen crisis intervention - not abandoning them, not betraying them. Yet fathers are particularly besieged with guilt when their daughters behavior leads them to place her in a boarding school for troubled teens. Fathers see their role as one of protector and provider. How could they have let their little girl down? How does a father handle dealing with a daughter who is trapped in addiction?

A site dedicated to exploring the relationships between fathers and daughters offers an account of one father’s experience.

“My daughter was in chemical dependency treatment last year and the hardest thing was to fight my urge to go in there and rescue her. Everyone told me that the best thing for her was to have her face the consequences of what she was doing. I knew that in my head, but it was really hard to do. I really needed support from other parents, especially one or two other dads, but boy, that was really hard to ask for, too.

She’s getting better, but still struggling – I mean, she’s only a kid. But I’m starting to see that sometimes the pain’s a real tool. It helps her see how serious this is and gets her moving to do what she needs to do to get better. That’s really hard to watch because she’s my little girl and Daddy’s supposed to be her protector. I know in my head that protecting her from the hurt or from the consequences, in a way, protects her from getting better. But, damn, that’s hard to let her hurt. It’s harder than going through all the chaos she put us through when she was drinking.”

(source)