It became apparent to me in that pivotal moment that the psychiatric ward where my teen was admitted had all the hallmarks of a prison.
She had had faith fully in the caregivers. We had mirrored that belief. Everything changed drastically when she was transferred from our area facility to the locked ward at the private institution.
As we got ready to depart, she moved peacefully toward the medical vehicle alongside me and her support worker, who gave her a tight hug before waving us off.
As the transport vehicle door opened at our destination, the foreboding structure stood ominously. We were greeted and led up a flight of steps through multiple locked doors, with each door locking behind us as the keyholder waited for each lock to engage before continuing.
We entered a fully enclosed space that was devoid of daylight, with my eyes rapidly fatiguing from the bright clinical illumination. They guided us to a central room that was surrounded by windows – what staff called the “observation room”.
The Devastating Separation
I felt her hand tighten in mine as they informed my departure was mandatory. My question about not meeting staff was answered with the policy that “parents must leave the treatment area.”
After pushing further, they permitted me a quick viewing to her room, but demanded I depart immediately afterward, citing facility policies.
I still wake at night, heart pounding as I revisit those steps through the shared space, to Ruth’s allocated room. A solitary cot, a plastic side table. Windows that were sealed shut.
Their voices faded as they explained how a rotating staff would observe Ruth every hour. I placed her luggage on the floor. Ruth remained positioned on the bed, visibly frightened, before I was led away.
In an instant, I was locked beyond the double-locked doors, holding a document that specified my time with my daughter to mere sixty minutes, two times per week.
What have I let them do?
A Life Cut Short
{Our daughter, our child, succumbed on February 14th, 2022 at evening on the children’s ICU at the medical facility in Oxford. She was taken immediately from the treatment center, an government-contracted but privately run child and adolescent mental health unit, where she had been left to fatally self-harm two days earlier.|Our child died on the 14th of February, 2022 at 6:29 PM in the {pediatric intensive care unit|
