I’m figuring out how to do the blog.  I’m also hoping to be able to add pictures.  If I were a writer, I’d be laying everything out and trying to put it in order, but I think in this case, I will create topic and then go in and work on them, add to them, edit, etc.  I really need a computer class to learn!

I will give each therapist or counseling center their own page, as well as some of the people involved.  Out of respect for privacy, I will either change names or not use names at all of people Emma hurt.

Some of the topics I will be covering are as follows:

Sandra Brooks McCravy, probably had the biggest influence on Emma doing what she did.  I had no idea that they had an inappropriate relationship going on, talking on the phone late at night, after we thought Emma was asleep.  Sandy was a friend of mine for about 7 years, mostly because she sort of latched on to me.  I did like her though, but considered her very needy.  She usually called me anywhere from a few to several times a week, usually in crisis.  Phill called her “High Maintenance” and often joked that I had to “talk her down.”   She was very high strung and would get upset with her family and want someone to listen.  Occasionally, I got annoyed that she would call and never even ask, “How are you?” but go on and on about her problems.  She was always upset with her mother because she said her mother favored her sister, a former beauty queen, and favored her sister’s children over her own.  She would call me from the bathtub when she was loaded down with  pillows, cookies, and brownies (no water though) and had had an argument with her husband.   She was in therapy with Dr. Genie Burnett at Manna Treatment for years (that should have told me something there), had a history of laxative abuse, seeing a psychiatrist, on psych meds, etc.  There’s a lot more to tell there, but I’ll save that for her own section.  Sandy did have her good points, and one day Emma and I got into a conversation about friendships, and I told her that no friendship is 50-50, and used Sandy for an example.  I told Emma that Sandy was very needy, and as long as I recognized that, it was fine.  If I had been a needy person, and needed as much attention as she did, I’m sure the friendship wouldn’t have worked.

Dr. Genie Burnett (“Oh, I’ve been on and off antidepressants for years!”) at Manna Treatment.

Suzie McGarvey, Lanier Counseling, who, even after finding out about lie after lie that Emma told, refused to contact my therapist so we could work on this as a family.

Dr. Richard Born, who, I’ve been told, did a very poor Psychological Evaluation on Emma.  She told him lie after lie, and he never looked into anything she said.  I was also told by several other professionals that to do a complete Psychological Evaluation, he should have interviewed me alone, Phill alone, Phill and I together (without Emma), and all three of us.  He did none of those things.

After DFACS got involved, they sent therapists from the Social Empowerment Center (SEC) to see Emma.  I’ve been told that therpists who work for DFACS are the bottom of the barrel, and I believe it after our experience!  This group seemed to have high turnover, as the best therapist, who met with Phill and I several times, left for another job, and two of them were young, or new grads with little experience and planned on getting their Master’s, so they weren’t exactly therpists, and I’m sure had no experience working with kids like Emma.

Well, that’s it for today.  This is going to take some work, but one day, the whole story will be out here.