As I write this, I am waiting for a CPS interview. I wish I could say this is the first. I wish I could say it will be the last, but I know as a mom to a young son with schizophrenia, it won't be. Never did I imagine I would be living this life. A life where my son cannot find care, where we can't find help. Yet, here we are.
My son had his first major psychotic break in January of this year. We have been living a nightmare ever since. Because of his age and medical conditions, there are no facilities, no inpatient psychiatric care for him.
125 denials.
125 facilities nationwide that have said no to treating my child. We live on med beds where he receives no therapy, no help.
Desperate for help, I put him in a long-term behavioral hospital. He was beaten up constantly, not given therapy, and medically mistreated. After my interview, I am getting him out after a 15-day stay. We will go back to outpatient therapy with hopes that things will be different, that things will change. I cling to that hope but know deep down, they won't.
Our system is broken. Here we are, the year 2025 and a child cannot get care.
*Location details were retained to honor the advocacy work described and to show where change began.
Each story is shared by someone impacted by untreated SMI,
lightly edited for clarity, never for meaning.
Do you have an ask? If you were sitting down with your legislator, how would you ask them to help you?
Change the system so medically complex children can access real psychiatric care, not med beds.
