I am a counselor with the Child Abuse Council in Tampa. We offer a parenting group for parents of out-of-control teens. The group "Parent Enrichment Group" meets on Monday evenings in Temple Terrace. There are many parents in the Tampa Bay area who have problem teens. Find out where to get help and talk to other parents. Call Laura Kiley at 813-673-4646 ext. 234 or email Ellen (parent leader at b_snelling@yahoo.com.)

As a staff missionary with Youth for Christ of Polk County, I work with at-risk and troubled teens. Ms. Robinson's daughter would be a typical child we would minister to. We are volunteer driven, working in the juvenile detention center and many of the commitment facilities in our county, ministering to families as well as teens. I have moms, much like Ms. Robinson, calling for help in making, residential placements for their children. I can give referrals to parents that need them. The biggest drawback for parents when attempting to make residential placements for their children, are the costs. What a blessing to have another resource to refer parents to. May God richly bless your efforts to touch the lives of hurting families that need the life changing message of Jesus Christ.

I am raising a stepson; who is completely incorrigible 90% of the time.  I can see our family needing help in the future.  He is 10 now.  Nothing I say seems to matter when he thinks of something he wants to do.

Julie Burns
Surfing the internet
jbsbeb@hotmail.com
Your website is a lovely tribute to a mother who experienced all that we have experienced in raising defiant teenagers.  I read with such a heavy heart what Vicki went through and sent in a story early this morning, May 8th, 2000.  What a shame this all happened, and when Valessa becomes a young adult and grows out of the rebellious teens, she will see what horror has been wrath.  She will never be able to share warming, loving conversations with her mom into her adult life.  Perhaps if she ever becomes a mother herself, she will see that her mother was trying to be a loving, protective nurturer and do the best she could under her circumstances.  Sometimes we have to be strict and try to maintain discipline even when they are shouting obscenities at us and hurling insults.  The article has had such a profound impact on me for I went through so many of the same circumstances she did, only my daughter, once she turned 19 or 20 suddenly become a lovely woman who is now studying to be a teacher.  Back in those dark, horrible years when she was 15 to 18, I would NEVER have believed this would have come to this. God knows you were a great mom, Vicki!!!  I'm also a single mom, but I am sending a donation the first chance I get. P.S. I read that her father visited her almost every day or every week while she was on trial.  What a shame he wasn't more in her life and being more supportive of Vicki's attempts at disciplining. She needed his to back her up. Perhaps with his backup, she would not have felt so alone or on her own at handing such a difficult child.  Only now does he come forward to "help." Your web site is a God send! This all touched me so very much.