It sounds like "the system" is coming together to help the Kelso family
reunite.

It's hard to judge, not being in that situation.  I'm not a parent and I can
only imagine the incredible stress that might be involved raising a child
with a severe disability in these hectic times.  I have the benefit of a
sound and caring community, thanks to good neighbors -- including Trisha and
Amber -- but I see other people who shut themselves off from their neighbors
and don't want to be bothered.  A career can really take a person's energy
and desire to be involved with neighbors during off-duty hours.  I don't
judge these people harshly; I think they are often just doing the best they
know how to preserve a semblance of contentment at home.

This is the way it seems in the Washington Metropolitan area, but I don't
really know how communities are in other parts of the country -- world,
whatever.  I hope there is more cohesion, but I fear that every big city is
like DC in this regard.  I hope I am wrong.  I have met wonderful people here
though too, so I would also add that perhaps you just have to look a little
harder in large cities, and be very selective about friends and community.

Disabled people can also experience the feeling of being on the fringes of
society.  Parents have to deal with this on behalf of their children with
disabilities too.  In the encounters with community and society as a whole,
how much of the undercurrent message to parents is "things would be better
for everyone if your child did not exist?"  I realize I'm taking a stab at
this without the experience of being the parent of a child with a disability.
 I'm just making an educated guess based on my own experiences as an adult
with a disability.

It just seems like every conceivable obstacle is thrown in the path of a
person, or family of a person, with a disability, such that the obstacles are
more overpowering than the disability itself.  I wonder how much of this has
been thrown in the path of the Kelso family over the years, and how much of a
toll it took.

My first inclination is to say that if the Kelsos have been charged with
misdemeanor child abandonment, perhaps society should also be charged.

Betty