Parenting is not easy, but mental health issues can make it even more difficult, especially when health concerns involve children.
One mother of five on TikTok understands this better than anyone. She had to make the difficult decision to prioritize her four children over her struggling daughter due to safety concerns.
A mother removed her mentally ill 11-year-old daughter from her home because she feared for the safety of her other children.
“I have an 11-year-old daughter and it’s no longer safe for her to be around other children or at home.” Mom, Meganshared vulnerablely.
“I love her deeply and really want her to be in my home, but it’s not safe for my other children,” she continued. I’m an only child. ”
Naturally, viewers became interested after Megan shared this information. She has since made several videos to further explain the situation, one of which featured her daughter Briley’s diagnosis.
“She has Disruptive Dysregulated Mood Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Impulse Control Disorder,” Megan elaborated.
She also addressed the use of the phrase “kicked out.”
“Maybe my choice of words or the way I explained it wasn’t the best. I really love my child and I’m still actively involved in her life,” she admitted. Ta.
“[Briley] DHS, the Department of Human Services, told me that she was a danger to my other children and that they could not protect my other children unless I placed her in another safe place. cannot live in the house of It’s my last,” she added. “And in this situation, I have four other children to protect.”
The mother told details of her daughter’s life.
The mother’s TikTok account is chock-full of stories about her family, primarily her daughter Briley.
Megan explained that when Briley was a baby, she cried so constantly that she was kicked out of her apartment. Briley struggled to sleep until she was 5 years old, by which time she was able to take medication.
“By the time my child was 6 years old, he was already in the hospital for hurting friends, siblings, teachers, etc.,” Megan said. “And it didn’t help.”
When Megan was pregnant with her now three-year-old son, Briley was “very, very abusive” to his mother.
“She was throwing books at my stomach, punching me, kicking me in the stomach,” she said. “She was very violent towards me.”
At this point, Briley sometimes spent time with her grandmother. But the arrangement became more permanent after an incident in which Briley injured her brother and cousin, forcing police to be called.
“She’s not good there. Her acting doesn’t work there,” Megan admitted. “The only difference is that [aren’t] The kids she bullies and beats there. But while she was definitely bullying Grandma, Grandpa really stopped her from doing so right away. ”
If a parent has to remove their child from the home for mental health reasons, it is not a failure.
It would be easy to criticize Megan and wonder why she couldn’t handle her own child – so many commenters think so. But that’s unfair to struggling mothers who are trying to be the best parents possible for their children. all About her children.
“I literally call her every day. I see her often,” she said of her daughter. “Maybe I wasn’t the mother my kids needed. But I’m still here and I’m still trying.”
Kristin Walker, a mother who had to send her son Skyler to a residential treatment program for his mental health. told the Central Virginia National Alliance on Mental Illness.“If Skylar had cancer, even if I didn’t do chemotherapy in my living room, I would never have thought I was a failure. I would never have thought I would give up on myself. This is… It’s a brain disorder.”
Mental illness should be recognized as the health issue it is, and those who deal with it directly or as loved ones should not be ashamed of it. We are all doing our best, including Megan.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a BA in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
