Falling through the cracks

We are apparently dealing with a "fixed delusion" now. Nothing fixed about it. Entirely broken in my non-medical opinion. I have spoken with medical professionals, law enforcement, counselors, DCF (yes, they changed the acronym this year) and the local county attorney's office. So far, everyone with an idea has sent me on a chase that has come up empty. All too often, there are no ideas at all.

When a delusional person whose medications have stopped working repeatedly files false accusations, there's nothing that can be done, because, "we wouldn't want to discourage people from making reports." It doesn't even count as harassment. Apparently, it's not even harmful to my children, who have been called out of class over and over to talk to strangers about imagined abuse. (I would argue that, but my opinion doesn't carry much weight, since I'm merely the mom.)

Ironically, the first time this happened to us, the interviewer told me (later) that my eldest daughter was the happiest child she had ever interviewed. After a half dozen false reports and about a dozen interviews, she's not such a happy interviewee any more.

I don't want to imply that abuse doesn't happen--I know it does. And reporting helps catch perps. But there needs to be some way to stop false reporting from being a way to freely harass.

The County Attorney refers all his cases to the doctor before sending it to a judge. I understand why, in simple terms. No judge wants his courtroom turned into a circus. But if a person needs a Care and Treatment Order, and the last resort is to get it from a judge, why would that judge toss it back at the same doctor who is asking the judge for it? I don't see the logic. Jail or prison is not the appropriate place for the mentally ill, or at least I don't think so. Not most of them, anyway. But when you make it nearly impossible for a doctor to place a person under care unless they think they want it, seems to me you're setting everyone up for a whole lot of mentally ill people without care, or even in jail. Paranoia is an insidious beast, and not limited to shambling hulks you might envision living under a bridge somewhere. Add in the unfortunates turfed out as quickly as possible because they may or may not have any sort of medical coverage, and, yeah, the old insane asylums of horror movie fame actually might not be quite so bad... as prison or death. 

I was given the advice (I think it was supposed to be... soothing?) that sometimes people with severe mental illness push away anyone who might help them. Not to worry, this is normal. Well, yes, I am aware that Alzheimer's patients are known for becoming somewhat combative and argumentative with their caregivers, sometimes not recognizing friends and family. Not quite the same situation. She knows exactly who I am, and is attacking with finesse and precision. If she had not been Bipolar, with decades of medical history on file, I'm not too sure my kids wouldn't have spent time in foster care "just in case" by now. Or possibly that hubby or I might have been detained for more detailed questioning.