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Re: Christo breaking in to houses at night AGAIN

Posted by Dorrie on June 3, 2008, 2:22 am, in reply to "Christo breaking in to houses at night AGAIN"
189.162.104.221

Thank you Daniel for encouraging Amy.

Seems to me that many individuals here, over many years, have tried to help Christo build some skills and make a better life. Constructive engagement was the first option chosen. For many reasons, these attempts were defeated, and from where we stand now not much positive impact is visible. We could argue 'til the cows come home about how much responsibility Christo bears for this outcome. We might acknowledge that we tackled a situation without knowing what what-all was involved, (how could we?)and that some of our intense feelings come from the "failures" we experienced and having our sincere efforts rejected by Christo and his mother. Dunno.

Regardless, Christo continues to steal and it's not clear who we can turn to. The cops don't want to get involved -not sure why, we could ask. It's too complex for 1 or 2 well-intentioned people to handle, and expensive to boot. Mexican members of the community are probably equally wary and flummoxed. Jail's not a solution, if only because a sentence for theft may be quite short. And his mother? Christo is not a minor.

So: if 1-2 people is too little, and some institutions are too much... what next?

Perhaps a small committed group needs to sit down and speak with Christo face to face, once we know about options for him. Maybe the Padre could be a leader here, and he could form a group that met with Christo and did some practical problem-solving. First Christo needs to be told (not threatened) that he's in trouble in this community, and if he wants to stay he will have to stop his illegal behavior. A cop may be best for this kind of straight talk. Christo should know that documents are prepared and he has a choice: go to court OR keep an agreement negotiated and signed with the group. The agreement could include visits to a therapist and skills training if they were accessible to him.

Failure to keep to the agreement would mean he would have to appear in court for his B&E's.

None of this will work unless he has an advocate to ensure 2-way communication. He also needs some kind of psychological assessment.

The group would have to follow through and meet with him regularly, and be even handed.

I moan when I think about the work involved. It's a lot. Only it's less than it takes to recover from the accident that's waiting to happen here.

So, who speaks decent Spanish?

192

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