I have been meeting with a single Mother who has temporarily lost custody of her son. We had developed a pretty tight plan of action, things that Mom really needs to work on to begin the process of getting her life in order so she might be able to regain custody of her son.
Mom has accomplished none of these action items over the past few months.
I queried Mom about this, what she thought might be preventing her from following through on the action steps we had designed.
There could be many reasons, but I've had an inkling for some time that she's just exhausted, ashamed; that on some level she believes herself to be a bad parent. I have wondered if perhaps, she might not be relieved in some ways that she no longer has custody, that she is no longer responsible for parenting her son. Could it be that she secretly believes that her son is better off without her?
So I asked.
Figuring out what's going on, working and what's not working and why, is a very difficult path. It really does require that parents dig into themselves to try to understand what's going on, what's driving the process in the way that it is. It's extremely hard work.
More to come soon.
© 2019 Kenneth H. Little. All rights reserved.
