Todays Journey
Today, my wife and I made a 3 hour journey, across the panhandle of Florida. My daughter, age 14 had been transported from a local hospital to a mental health facility. During the 145 mile journey, my wife and I began to reflect on behaviors we had observed over the past year, things we observed that seemed minor, until now. We questioned our parenting and wondered how me missed some of the things that were happening behind our backs. We made detailed notes, in hopes of helping the doctors and counselors determine what was going on with our child.
Once we arrived at the facility, we were greeted by a nurse with a stack of paperwork we were required to sign. Then, she told us that our daughter had been put into a room with a girl who identified as a male. She also advised us that our daughter had told the staff that she too identified as a male and wanted to be called by a male name. This was a behavior that we had never observed until today. The nurse also told us that our daughter was very disrespectful and had a bad attitude towards the staff.
As my wife and I were filling out paperwork in a room, we observed our daughter in the common area with a bunch of other girls, laughing smiling and appearing to have a great time in her new environment. It was 10:30am and visitation was at 4pm. I told the nurse that I wasn't even sure that our daughter would see us at visitation. Since we had a 3 hour drive home, the nurse decided to ask our daughter if she wanted to visit with us, at which time she screamed "Hell No!". The nurse advised us that there was nothing more we needed to do and to head home and let the medical staff evaluate her and then contact us with their determination.
We were heartbroken to say the least. Our once sweet child had been admitted to a mental health facility and by all appearances, was actually enjoying herself. She didn't seem to care that she crushed us by refusing to see us. We left the facility shattered and confused. We knew now that this situation was completely out of our hands and that only God could fix her. We have enlisted many friends, family and church members to pray for her, we need to just continue to pray and have faith that God is in complete control.