The Family Of A 14-Year-Old Called A Health Center To Help Her. Instead, Cops Came

[tulipsandroses]

The Family Of A 14-Year-Old Called A Health Center To Help Her. Instead, Cops Came And She's Now Sentenced To 11 Years In Juvenile Detention.

The parents of a 14-year-old girl in Oregon are fighting to get their daughter's case reopened after she was convicted of attempted murder and arson and sentenced to 11 years in a juvenile detention center.

According to KEZI, Saraya Rees was arrested last year after she poured a small amount of gasoline in front of her parents' bedroom door. But her family was hoping to get help for the 14-year-old instead of seeing her arrested.

Saraya's mother, Shannon Rees, said her daughter was taking anti-depressants after facing severe bullying in school. A local pediatrician then took the teenager off of the medication, according to the family. Rees said she contacted a local health center to get help for her daughter, but police arrived instead to arrest the 14-year-old, KEZI reported.

"She never attempted to light the gas, she was calling out for help in the way her mind told her was best,” Rees told KEZI.

With more than 3,000 likes on a Facebook page created for the teenager, the parents are motivated to keep fighting for justice.

"We created this page to gather support against the injustice Coos County, Oregon served to our daughter," the family stated on the Justice4Saraya page.

There is also a Change.org petition regarding the case, which has already passed its goal of 100,000 signatures.

"Just in case you didn’t know...WE DID IT!" the family said on Facebook. "Saraya’s petition blew right through our goal number of 100,000 signatures! This has literally happened since Saturday morning! Just a few days! We are overwhelmed, shocked, and so damn grateful to every single one of you that has helped with this, in any way!"
[link:https://blavity.com/family-says-11-year-juvenile-detention-sentence-of-14-year-old-who-they-say-has-mental-illness-is-inhumane?category1=Social-Justice&category2=news|

[Shrike47]

1. If they want the outcome changed, they need to hire an experienced Juvenile Ct. atty ASAP.

Petitions aren’t going to get them anywhere.

[tulipsandroses]

3. Hopefully with the attention they are getting on social media, they will either be able to raise the

money for an attorney or one will take the case pro bono. The attention has already forced the DA to put out a statement - so they are gaining some traction with this social media push.

[tirebiter]

2. 11 years in juvy wil make it wierd

She’ll be an adult in 4 years

[mwooldri]

4. Why did I think when I saw that headline...

... that child must be black? And sure enough I clicked through and saw the article and sure enough....

Had the child been a blonde haired pale skin, I'm pretty certain the police would have been taking her to hospital not juvenile detention. Also the health center may have dispatched EMT as well as police.

So much went wrong here.

[tulipsandroses]

6. This struck a nerve with me because I work in mental health and I have adult clients with similar

stories. None of them prosecuted. They are adult white males.

The DA put out a BS statement saying that the police responded because it was standard procedure when the call was made to the health center. I am in FL, its standard procedure here as well. I've had to call law enforcement more than a few times because it is the policy. (Here goes that argument for defunding the police again and diverting those funds to have mental health professionals respond, but I digress) - Here in FL, when police respond to situations such as this, they can initiate an involuntary commitment for a psych evaluation. I don't know the laws in Oregon, but I'm willing to bet, the procedure is similar. They could have and should have taken that child to a psychiatric facility.

From my experience, it is not standard procedure when - we the clinic call law enforcement for a crisis - that person is prosecuted - The intention of sending them is for them to initiate the Baker Act. (Involuntary Admission) - I read these from law enforcement every Tuesday and Wednesday when I do discharge follow ups from crisis units. That's why I find what happened here so appalling.

[Phoenix61]

5. If you think adults get crap mental health

care you won’t believe what happens to children. I don’t know of any anti-depressant you can safely stop cold turkey. I personally don’t think pediatricians should be prescribing them to take or stop. They are all off label use for children except Ritalin. Unfortunately, there’s no where near enough child psychiatrists.

[Xolodno]

7. Not surprised.

As a former DA told me....the only job the police have is to arrest people. That's how they are graded on performance. Help the community? Sure, makes a nice PR thing...but they have sanctioned events for that.

But the real question is....why did the Health Center call the police? That screams of a violation of something and can get sued. And they should have taken her to a psychiatrist and got her diagnosed. That way when they called the facility, could have told them what she was suffering from.

The DA even admitted she probably had an underlying mental condition....but decided to be a dick anyway. That there should get some lawyers salivating.