TL;DR - I know a kid in a ****ed up situation and I’m trying to figure out how to help him get his life straightened out.
So I know this kid that is/was my friends little brother in Big Brothers/Big Sisters and he’s in a bad situation. A little background on him first. My friend started as his big brother probably back in the 2011/2012 timeframe. He kept that up for a few years but when he and his wife divorced around 2016, he sort of lost touch with the kid. When he first met the kid he was a mess. He grew up in a broken home, living with about a dozen relatives in a 3 BR house, his mom was all over the place and a complete mess, and his dad was a deadbeat that lives in Arkansas. On top of all of this, one of those relatives he lived with in that house molested him when he was maybe 11 or 12. I’m saying this as prep for the next paragraph.
I haven’t seen this kid in probably 3 years. My friend heard from him a week or so back after the kid reached out to him because he’s not in good shape. He’s now 17 and has semi-recently gotten out of juvie in June for stealing a car at gunpoint. He spent 8 months locked up and he hasn’t been to school since his freshman year of high school. He found out a couple of weeks ago that his girlfriend who is 18 is pregnant and due in January. She doesn’t have her HS diploma either and she’s not working right now, he’s a manager at a Domino’s. They live in that same house all the relatives lived in although it sounds like nobody else is living there. It sounds like the grandma owns the house free and clear and is still paying the utilities on the house so they’re living there for free. However my understanding is that the house is a shit hole with no hot water or AC of any kind. He knows he’s in a bad way and while he’s not asking us for money, he’s asking us for help to try and get his life straightened out. He wants to get his GED and so does the GF but enrollment for GED prep doesn’t start until August so we’re trying to figure out what to do in the mean time.
For now here’s what my friend and I are thinking:
1. Get him with a social worker to figure out what benefits he and his GF are eligible for
2. See about getting them on food stamps/housing assistance
3. Get them an AC unit at least for the bedroom so they can sleep conformably
4. Look into getting a new hot water heater
5. See about getting him a better job, maybe some kind of construction work
We/he knows a lot of doors are closed to him and his GF work-wise right now considering they don’t even have their diplomas yet. But I’m hoping someone on here might have some suggestions as far as what else we can do for him and his GF until that happens or if anyone can suggest some other things we may not have thought of. I’m going to talk to a buddy of mine on Friday to see about possibly getting him into a drywall crew so that by the time he hopefully finishes his diploma he can start applying for better jobs or try for an apprenticeship or something.
Sorry for the novel, just hoping someone might be able to help us help this kid out.
So I know this kid that is/was my friends little brother in Big Brothers/Big Sisters and he’s in a bad situation. A little background on him first. My friend started as his big brother probably back in the 2011/2012 timeframe. He kept that up for a few years but when he and his wife divorced around 2016, he sort of lost touch with the kid. When he first met the kid he was a mess. He grew up in a broken home, living with about a dozen relatives in a 3 BR house, his mom was all over the place and a complete mess, and his dad was a deadbeat that lives in Arkansas. On top of all of this, one of those relatives he lived with in that house molested him when he was maybe 11 or 12. I’m saying this as prep for the next paragraph.
I haven’t seen this kid in probably 3 years. My friend heard from him a week or so back after the kid reached out to him because he’s not in good shape. He’s now 17 and has semi-recently gotten out of juvie in June for stealing a car at gunpoint. He spent 8 months locked up and he hasn’t been to school since his freshman year of high school. He found out a couple of weeks ago that his girlfriend who is 18 is pregnant and due in January. She doesn’t have her HS diploma either and she’s not working right now, he’s a manager at a Domino’s. They live in that same house all the relatives lived in although it sounds like nobody else is living there. It sounds like the grandma owns the house free and clear and is still paying the utilities on the house so they’re living there for free. However my understanding is that the house is a shit hole with no hot water or AC of any kind. He knows he’s in a bad way and while he’s not asking us for money, he’s asking us for help to try and get his life straightened out. He wants to get his GED and so does the GF but enrollment for GED prep doesn’t start until August so we’re trying to figure out what to do in the mean time.
For now here’s what my friend and I are thinking:
1. Get him with a social worker to figure out what benefits he and his GF are eligible for
2. See about getting them on food stamps/housing assistance
3. Get them an AC unit at least for the bedroom so they can sleep conformably
4. Look into getting a new hot water heater
5. See about getting him a better job, maybe some kind of construction work
We/he knows a lot of doors are closed to him and his GF work-wise right now considering they don’t even have their diplomas yet. But I’m hoping someone on here might have some suggestions as far as what else we can do for him and his GF until that happens or if anyone can suggest some other things we may not have thought of. I’m going to talk to a buddy of mine on Friday to see about possibly getting him into a drywall crew so that by the time he hopefully finishes his diploma he can start applying for better jobs or try for an apprenticeship or something.
Sorry for the novel, just hoping someone might be able to help us help this kid out.
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