Another problem is the lack of support for kids once they leave the institutions. They go back to the same environment, and resources are terribly lacking. At the adult level, we recognize that when adults leave institutions they need all types of support, but there's just nothing in place for kids. We try to treat them while they're there, but have nothing once they're gone. They go back to the same problems, the same addictions, the same violent culture.
Experts have a lot of power, but they're so removed from the kids.
When I was working in a group home, I'd be working with a kid for going on a year, and a psychologist would talk to them for 15-20 minutes. They'd write up a huge report and that is how the child was medicated, that's how what they needed was determined. Whereas people like me had no recourse to say 'this is what I think the kid needs,' based on ongoing discussions with the child. There are all these requirements, and getting caught up in that type of stuff, you're losing the human element, and you're losing the standpoint of the subject. She says it is not for lack of affection or goodwill that these problems do not get addressed.