The Ice Flow

Five out of six girls got aftercare news today. My heart kind of breaks for them. I can't at all imagine the sinking reality of being sent away for additional years at a time. I go back and forth a lot out here about the necessity of what we're endeavoring to do--like if these parents had stood up in their kids lives and set good boundaries would they still have ended up here? These kids have been failed by so many people and things, even their own biology oftentimes...It becomes an almost chicken and egg scenario. Were they destructive before the world seemed to turn against them, or did they become that way once things got rough on them? A lot of these girls have lived way too much life for their age, then they get sent here and its like falling through ice into water. We work them back to the surface during their time here, back from the depths. Getting sent to aftercare is like then getting stuck on the ice flow, moving out to sea, you're still on the surface but marooned and drifting in a whole new universe. I believe in this work so strongly that sometimes it can be hard to relinquish any hand in the journey, and fairly excruciating to remember there are so many other players in the decisions besides from simply the wellness and well being of the student.