Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Court and Post Traumatic Stress

We have yet another court hearing. It seems as though the last four years have been filled with consistent court hearings, many of them really not pleasant at all. They have at times shaken me to the very core. At times the spoken words have been very difficult to handle, but the unspoken ones have been worse. The amount of stress that is involved in the whole legal process, especially in regards to a CHIPS (Child in Need of Protection or Services) case, with us on the "abusive or neglectful parents" side of things, is beyond anything I'd ever experienced before.

Salinda has court this afternoon for her "domestic assault" charges from two weeks ago when she punched me. it is going to mess up her "stay of adjudication" and now she will have a trial for stealing the car. I am still battling feeling guilty for calling 911 even though I know I shouldn't. It could easily mess up her future. But then I remind myself that she is making her own choices.

Interestingly, her behavior has been nearly perfect since that incident. At least she appears to be from the outside. And the inside we'll deal with as we go along. It's so very hard to watch someone

Even though court will not be geared at us and should be fairly uneventful, I am still stressed about it. Going just brings back lots of memories that are unpleasant. I do not look forward to today.

1 comment:

debbie said...

i do not at all pretend to know what it feels like for you, that would be insulting, but this morning in the pharmacy, my son went into a violent rage, swearing, throwing himself, and scratching my face. i was trying to deal with this with everyone standing and watching us in horror. i suddenly had a vision of the future, me being up on abuse charges because of some well-meaning bystander thinking he was being mistreated. and then i came home and read this. and had another vision of my future. and i was horrified. my heart goes out to you.