BetteDavisEyes
Fasten your seatbelts...
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2010
- Messages
- 35,717
- Reaction score
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JMHO, but he belongs at the jail. The residents of the Children's Village are not all children who are there because of criminal activity---there are children with mental health issues. Based on the information that the prosec. team presented about him wanting a fan base, the unstructured time with non-professional, trained oversight team seems like an accident or training ground for him to make acquaintance who might be of like mind or be persuaded to be of like mind. It just seems too risky for me. If the information presented today showed a kid with remorse, bettering himself through education, not emailing nut jobs who are emailing him I might feel differently. He just seems manipulative and dangerous.
Many years ago, when I was in my late 20s/early 30s, I was quite active in a local service organization. Each year, members of our service club visited Children's Village during the holidays to meet with a group of residents, play games, do arts/crafts, decorate a Christmas tree, sing carols, serve punch & cookies, etc. Some service club members attended the event annually, but I only went once because the outing was emotionally draining for me. It saddened me to see 8 to 10-year-old children living such hopeless lives and relying on outsiders to bring a mere dose of happiness to their sad existence. I'm sure that some of the emotionally challenged youngsters were heavily medicated, as they seemed barely able to function like normal children in a festive social setting.
I can't even imagine what the older residents of Children's Village must be like, especially those who have committed crimes and/or are awaiting trial or have severe behavioral issues. The description of the "youth specialists" who monitor the residents made them sound like camp counselors. I doubt that any of them are equipped to handle a teen with Ethan's mental health issues and sociopathic tendencies. JMO