I am Amy, the mother of an 18 year old son who has struggled with SUD and MH challenges. He is still alive, but the road over the past 4 years is one that will spin heads. Every system has failed our family. I understand I cannot want my son to get help more than he does and I know at this point I can let him know I love him and I can ultimately only save myself from this ugly illness. I authored an article for the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, identifying ways in which the systems failed a kid in desperate need of help. It all unraveled when my son was DM'ing with a friend who completed suicide that night. She was 13 years old and my son turned to substances to not have to feel. Here we are 4 years later, overdose, jail time in GA, joke of probation in MN after breaking repeated laws and violating every rule of probation and treatment never ordered through the courts despite 4 letter from professionals saying this would be the only solution. Son ran from 2 wilderness programs, we have spent over 200,000 to try to get help, reports to child protection, criminal lawyer, education attorney and we are still stuck. I now intend to advocate for other families and share what I have learned.

Intro and Outro music by:

Decisions by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100756

Artist: http://incompetech.com/