Recently there was a school shooting in Florida. It was a tragedy which I feel could have been prevented.
I know he was an adopted foster child and with that there will be some sort of a backlash against foster youth... many of whom are very traumatized and whose actions don't make sense to the general public.
Here's my thoughts:
1) I do not understand why someone with a mental health background should have access to guns. I truly do not.
2) I do not understand why we have a need for such POWERFUL guns either.
3) I do not know what has been this man's history before adoption or after adoption. Neither do you. The media is giving all sorts of stories.
4) I do not see this as a race issue other than in how things get reported. But I hate and distrust the media anyway...
5) I ask myself "What happened in this child's home?" "What happened in this child's life?" "What kind of family did he have?" "What mental health resources did he need and not get?" "Why didn't he get those mental health needs met?"
When foster youth leave care, they often times age out of medicaid... unless they can apply for individual medicaid, many times these kids go without mental health resources. I have read he is both 19 and 21... either way, that is right around the time when aged out foster youth lose their resources via medicaid.
This is a tragedy. Let's not blame it on any one thing. People who do these acts---black or white, adopted or not---have multiple factors going on. Let's not discuss this until the trial and we learn more about what factors played a role.
I know he was an adopted foster child and with that there will be some sort of a backlash against foster youth... many of whom are very traumatized and whose actions don't make sense to the general public.
Here's my thoughts:
1) I do not understand why someone with a mental health background should have access to guns. I truly do not.
2) I do not understand why we have a need for such POWERFUL guns either.
3) I do not know what has been this man's history before adoption or after adoption. Neither do you. The media is giving all sorts of stories.
4) I do not see this as a race issue other than in how things get reported. But I hate and distrust the media anyway...
5) I ask myself "What happened in this child's home?" "What happened in this child's life?" "What kind of family did he have?" "What mental health resources did he need and not get?" "Why didn't he get those mental health needs met?"
When foster youth leave care, they often times age out of medicaid... unless they can apply for individual medicaid, many times these kids go without mental health resources. I have read he is both 19 and 21... either way, that is right around the time when aged out foster youth lose their resources via medicaid.
This is a tragedy. Let's not blame it on any one thing. People who do these acts---black or white, adopted or not---have multiple factors going on. Let's not discuss this until the trial and we learn more about what factors played a role.