July 30th, 2007 by Ann Walker
The perseverance of one mother may make a difference in the community of Raleigh. Torn with grief that her teen age son was convicted of murder and sent to prison, a single mother of four took her pain and anger and funneled it into creating a yearly festival that she hopes will break through the indifference of the community and spearhead change for the troubled teenagers who are following in her son’s footsteps.
“The night he was sentenced, I cried all night long,” said Scotland, 41. “And then I had a dream.”
The dream was of a movement that would change the future of Southeast Raleigh, a place where so many fatherless boys were abandoning school for a life of drugs and guns. From that vision, the Annual Southeast Raleigh Community Outreach Day was born.”
Teen crisis intervention is too often born of pain, but, perhaps all the more powerful for it. Who better to speak to the community than a single mother working two jobs to raise 4 teens? Someone who suffers daily in remembering the mistakes she has made but has the courage to admit to them. who better to reach out to mothers of teens at risk to counsel them not to make the same mistakes?
“She admits she has made mistakes. The child of a schizophrenic mother and an absent father, she grew up bouncing between relatives in New York and Raleigh. She moved in with a boyfriend at 14 and had her first child at 16.
Scotland still cries when she thinks about what has become of her son and about the broken family his crime left behind. She still wonders what she might have done to prevent it.”
(Source)
Relevant Tags:crisis intervention, single mother, teen crisis intervention, teens at risk, teen crisis, troubled teenagers
July 27th, 2007 by Ann Walker
Alcohol was the drug of choice for Nicole’s young son. She wasn’t ware of it until it was almost too late. Typical of a single mother, her she worked two jobs and trusted the family babysitter. Unfortunately, the trust was misplaced. She discovered that most of the alcohol was consumed under her watch.
Nicole’s family was alarmed when her course of action was to enroll her son in a military boarding school. But Nicole was determined.Alcohol had ruined her marriage and her parent’s marriage and she was not going to allow her son to fall in the same trap. He was given a choice between a school for troubled teens with an emphasis on sports or a military school. Military school won out and it has turned out to be the solution her son needed.
She is to be commended for her responsible actions. Recent news items indicate that, unfortunately, many parents of teens at risk are not.
“We have an underage drinking epidemic on our hands because of the parents who condone it, the retailers who enable it and the children who participate in it,” said Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose, head of a countywide task force on underage drinking. “It is a problem that involves all of society, and will require all of society to remedy.”
Deerfield Police Chief John Sliozis, whose community was stung by the deaths of Daniel Bell and Ross Trace, said parents must realize that it’s never safe for teens to drink.
“Some people have always believed that if the kids were drinking under their so-called supervision, it was not really a problem,” Sliozis said. “As acceptable as that myth may have been 20 or 30 years ago, I believe there is no way to deny that teens are far too mobile these days for anyone to subscribe to it.”
(Source)
Deerfield is the community where two parents were convicted for allowing underage drinking in their home, pleading ignorance. Their ignorance cost two teens their lives.
Relevant Tags:boarding school, military boarding school, military school, school for troubled teens, single mother, troubled teen boarding schools, underage drinking
