Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for October 17, 2012

That’s kind of sad. My sister had a friend who had it “kind of rough” at her house, and she moved in with us for two years – and she said it made a huge difference in her life. And my brother had a friend who had it “kind of rough”, and he AND his little brother moved in; he’s family, now, and has made a real success of himself.

More to the point, though: having seen kids living with abuse and alcoholism and drug use, the whole “uh, you probably worry too much” is a pathetic cop-out and dangerously dismissive. It’s easy to handwave away the idea that a kid really does live in a dangerous situation, but sometimes that just leaves the kid in a really, truly, horrible place, and after such a dismissal convinced that no-one will believe them, or help.

Not always the case ZK. There are situations that allow arrangements like that in the best interest of the child.

The real question is, what does “kind of rough” mean? Is it abusive parents, or simply not enough money? Being broke can be more than a bit rough, especially for a kid, but it’s a completely different kind of rough.

In the first instance, there could have potentially been legal liability, but as it happened, S.‘s parents were so indifferent to her that they simply didn’t care where she lived, or whether or not it was with us. In the second instance, my brother’s friends’ father tried to make a stink about it, and our family went to court to petition for a guardianship order for the kids. That petition was successful – it didn’t hurt that their father turned up reeking drunk in the company of a prostitute.

Dad was never a stupid man, and had a lawyer on retainer if we needed. On the other hand, he grew up without a father himself, and was committed to never turning away a kid who needed help. Especially not if one of his own kids asked.