If Sergio was threatening suicide, and CPS found out, wouldn't he have been sent to a hospital for treatment? And wouldn't he be allowed supervised visits or at the least, phone calls?
SBM
I am not familiar with how stuff is done in Arizona; the following is all based on how it is done in my state. I became familiar with the ins and outs of involuntary and voluntary psychiatric admitting through my job which involved suicide crisis intervention.
Furthermore, none of the following applies to SC because I don't know him, have never met him, have absolutely no insider knowledge about him.
Verbalising suicidal ideation is not enough to get someone committed to a psychiatric facility in my state, voluntarily or involuntarily.
The statement or statements have to be evaluated in context and evaluated as to whether that person is an immediate threat to themself or someone else.
So, for instance, the parent of a missing child says "if my child isn't found, I'll kill myself" is voicing suicidal thoughts. However, the time frame almost certainly means they are not an immediate threat. No involuntary hospitalisation and probably not a voluntary one, either.
If the parent says something like "I don't know how much longer I can take this, I'll kill myself if they don't find my child" that is a step up in the immediacy (because of the uncertainty of "how much longer" would mean). No involuntary hospitalisation but possibly a voluntary one. Depending on the person's history, etc, I think a lot of psychiatrists would be comfortable treating on an outpatient basis (no voluntary hospitalisation).
If the parent says something like "if my child isn't found by next Saturday, I'll eat my shotgun" then that is considered highly dangerous; there's a definite time stated and a method (we'll assume the person has a shotgun). That would get someone involuntarily hospitalised for a 72 hour psych eval.
There are lots and lots of people who have voiced suicidal ideation and are treated without hospitalisation. Part of it is that people deserve to be treated in the least restrictive environment available and part of it is that there is a severe shortage of beds in psychiatric facilities.
Now to stir children into the mix: if a parent is suicidal and voicing that in front of their children, the children need to be protected from that.
If the parent is experiencing fast mood swings, then even limited or supervised contact with the children may not be in the child's best interests. If the parent is fine one minute, then sobbing and talking about suicide the next minute, there's just too much chance the child will be further exposed to potential emotional damage.
Again, none of this directly applies to SC because I have no idea what is happening behind the scenes and because all this applies to my own state and not to Arizona.
Further, there's the question of whether CPS is over-reacting or not. Without more information, who knows?
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No, seriously - - I've noted Isabel's signature earrings, and I wonder if those were in her room or gone, and I've wondered if any sneakers are missing, since I am "assuming" she wore sneaks to the ballgame.)