Read post #25 The girl has no parents ! Her mother is dead and there is nothing about her dad . She lives with strangers , I am not about to judge this girl b/c I have no idea who I would act if I had this happen to me as a16 yo kid ! I know it was very hard on my sister who was only 16 yo when our dad dies we still had our mother , the girl in this story has no parents only foster parents . If the girl has been acting out before her mom dies the school should seen if she was ready to be in class room again.
No one looking out for this girl , she was grieving and there are 5 stages people go through she should never had been back in school yet.
The adults in her life did a miserable job in her time of needs and support . I wonder if the girl got any help like this before going back to school.
http://www.allpsychologycareers.com/topics/loss-of-a-parent.html
"Children’s grief over loss of a parent
Psychological research has shown that a person’s age affects his or her ability to cope with the death of a parent. According to clinical psychologist Maxine Harris, PhD, in her book “The Lifelong Impact of the Early Death of a Mother or Father,” the loss of a parent before adulthood has a profound effect on the rest of that person’s life. The loss affects adult personality development, a sense of security, and relationships with the surviving parent and significant others.
Loss of a parent at an early age has been shown to lead to long-term psychological damage in children, especially when the parent lost is the mother. To prevent this, psychologists suggest grief therapy for the child (see Grief Therapy), allowing the child to express his or her feelings and providing feedback and activities to pursue when grief resurfaces.
According to Psychologist J.W. Worden, and the Harvard Child Bereavement Study (HCBS), children have four “tasks” of mourning they must accomplish in order to process the death of a parent:
◦They must accept the reality of the parent’s death.
◦They must experience the grieving and emotional pain of the loss.
◦They must adjust to the world in which the deceased is no longer there.
◦They must find ways to memorialize the deceased, and relocate the lost parent within his or her life in a different way.
In a 1999 study in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence entitled “Children's Psychological Distress Following the Death of a Parent,” girls were more likely to experience depressive symptoms after the loss of a parent than boys. Additionally, younger children were more at risk for depressive symptoms than older children.
Children need age-appropriate support—that is, counseling and support that correlates to the way a person processes death at a certain age—to deal with the effects of the loss of a parent and the ensuing grief. Since people understand death differently at different stages of development, the emotional support they receive needs to reflect the child’s ability to process the information. Children almost always exhibit some type of regression behavior when a parent dies. It is important to recognize these behaviors as part of grieving and not to punish the child for them. Children might resort to a behavior they had left behind, such as thumb sucking, bed wetting, or uncontrolled crying.
Behavioral grief symptoms in children include:
◦Withdrawal
◦Searching for the deceased
◦Avoiding places and people who remind them of the deceased
◦Changes in eating habits
◦Crying
Adolescent grief is an area of continuing interest and research. Teenagers experience such a varying and dynamic range of emotions, sometimes responding to psychological tests as adults, sometimes through avoidance or masking of emotions, and sometimes they respond as children. However, we do know that adolescents are susceptible to short and long-term emotional damage from the loss of a parent. Teenagers may act out through risk-taking behavior, and disinterest in school and activities is common following the loss of a parent.
In addition to emotional reactions, children of all ages will suffer from physical symptoms of grief. Physical symptoms experienced by both children and adolescents include weakness, low energy, dry mouth, and shortness of breath.
In order to successfully work through the grief of a parent’s death, individuals need to be open to dealing with their emotions completely, to express them honestly, and discuss them with someone who can provide support. Only through this process will a person be able to resolve his or her grief.
The study and treatment of mental health issues is a growing field in the United States. People interested in the study of human behavior and in helping others will find a career in mental health counseling extremely rewarding. If you are interested in assessing and assisting people dealing with grief, you should consider a career as mental health counselor. Education and experience in psychology can lead to careers in counseling and therapy, or other psychology related fields. Request information from schools offering degree programs in psychology or counseling to learn more."
