FASD neighborhood

I think I have written before about the fact that my next door neighbor has also adopted four children, she is a single mom (wow, I hope I never have to do this alone). Her oldest daughter is 15 or maybe 16 and has FAS.

We have had a few episodes over the past years where this girl has attacked my kids. She will do this not when the kids have done anything to instigate the attack, but just when she is mad about something else. After dinner last night, I heard her mom outside yelling at her and came to our front door. Three of my kids were in the door looking outside. They said that the teenage girl was attacking her little sister and the mom was trying to get it under control. They were on the other side of their house so I couldn't see anything. I was going outside and trying to figure out if I should go out (this mom is very private, unlike me!).

Three girls who live at the other end of our block were playing nearby and all of a sudden, the enraged FAS teenager (trying not to use their names), came running out from the side of their house and started to chase these girls. I got my kids in the house and then started to chase the teenager (her mom has some health and physical challenges so I knew I could run a bit faster-good thing I have been working out a lot). It was quite the scene. Two girls, 4 years old and 7 years old running down the block scared to death, a very large teenager chasing them, me running behind her, and her mom way behind me. Right when I was about to catch up to the teenager, in the girls who were running front yard, the teenager fell and I got down next to her and held her down with one of my arms and started to calmly rub her back with my other hand.

The girls who had just ran into their house, got their parents who came out, wondering what in the world had just happened. They have lived there maybe a year, and are a challenging family. Had a recent drug bust at their house. At this point, the mom of the teenager arrived and was crying and told the parents that her daughter has special needs and that she has called the police so they can take her to the hospital.

Unfortunately, this poor mom has been having to call the police probably once a month on her daughter. She has gotten to be too much to handle and gets too aggressive. I'm not sure what is going to happen. I helped and went to pick her other three kids who were at a Boy Scout picnic. In the meantime, Akila was going through the roof!!!! She was completely nuts over the entire situation and I was trying to explain it to her, she was quite scared. The bummer, is that I told her the police were going to take the girl to the hospital, which I wish I had not said. Jail would have been a better answer. Akila loves the hospital and wants to go there all the time. She loves IV's and shots and all that junk. I could see her head spinning. I was trying to explain that it was not the kind of hospital that she is thinking of. She didn't get it. She honestly thinks it would be fun to go to jail. Unfortunately, I think some day she will probably find out the reality of what it is really like.

Things are heating up in the hood. I think with the weather, and the economy, it is going to be a really hard summer in North Minneapolis. I called 911 three times last week in one day due to suspicious behavior. A neighbor did end up getting robbed by some people I called the police on, they didn't get here in time. Urggghhhh.