Salem
Salem was the third child, Sara adopted. But he was the oldest.
He was 13 when she adopted him.
(image from the internet)
She found this diary entry from June, 2009:
I spent the whole day with our 13 year old kid from Saturday night. Cancelled meetings, rearranged schedule, blew off other clients and staff and just stayed with him from 9am to 7pm doing 2 things- holding his hand through the court process ( which honestly took all of 2 minutes, I didn't even have to say a word but show up) and waiting to admit him to hospital so he could get some relief from the withdrawal symptoms and also get evaluated so he could receive ongoing counselling.
But the waiting was agony! And I'm not talking about the actual wait itself...it was more painful watching the different expressions and emotions showing, as he suffered from narcotic withdrawals( going cold turkey since Monday), the agony of being away from his mother and little brother, having some stranger get appointed as fit parent (me) for the next month and knowing that his life is dangling precariously on the edge..somewhere between 'juvie' and prison or worse yet, a detention centre.
He hadn't slept in days, was tired, confused, scared, and to top it off he hated the place we had sent hiim to- too hard, no phone calls so he couldn't hear his mum's voice every night, no medication, he was having hot flashes,was always hungry, they ahd taken away the cigarettes I had given him ( I know he's a minor) and just a child with very grown up problems.
Even as we grownups were talking of options for him, the kid would walk alongside side us while playing with his 2 Matchbox cars, trailing one along the walls inside the Jalan Duta courthouse while the other he would hold in his hand, making those 'vroom, vroom' noises. While he may be a drug hustler, pusherand addict, he also wanted his Superhero t shirts and pants and looks like his 9 years old.He shoots imaginary enemies and goes 'bang bang' on and off for 4 hours as we wait at the hospital to get him admitted at the Emergency centre...it's better than General Hospital someone says...over there you wait 5 or 6 hours before you get admitted.
So after this long day, the nurse takes us to the Psychiatric ward where there are all male adult patients and our kid. This cannot be ... I ask the nurse..he's being admitted for drug rehab and detox and he's 13..no room, no space and no such thing for children..he has to stay with the adult male patients. No lock on the 3 communal bathrooms, lock down facility, security guards...you're not allowed anything but toiletries and no cash more than rm 50...our kid has rm5.
My staff, volunteer and I are dumbstruck, shocked! We are suppose to leave this child here?
Yup..closest to the front so he gets constant attention from the staff, they'll monitor the bathroom and they can get to him if anything happens...very reassuring!!To be fair, our kid seems not to care, goes in and changes clothes, hands us his street clothes and says goodnight. All he wants is chocolate and colour pencils and drawing materials tomorrow...no colour pencils only chalk, we are told...he's going to be bored, the nurse says, can we bring books?
He can barely read or count...psp, computer games....what???Only for the 3 hours then we have to take them back...ward rules...where are we again?
How is all this in the best interest of the child?
Her thoughts are back to the present time.
She sees him that once a month.
After the 8th escape from drug rehab centres, she cannot bear to put him in a home anymore. He gets progressively worse every time he comes out.
He shoots heroin now,
Her job is to keep him alive and as safe as is possible, He's depressed inside.
Keep him safe and separate from the rest of the kids.
She can't risk him coming to the house or the children seeing their big brother, high.
...to be continued