Iryna, the mother of a 16-year-old boy, turned to the documentator of the REAct project. He began to use narcotic substances periodically. The mother repeatedly tried to hold conversations with her son, but it yielded no results, only negativity on his part.
On the advice of a friend, Iryna decided to contact the local family and youth center, as she was looking for a specialist who could help in this situation. However, instead of help, the employees of the Center turned to the Children’s service, which, in turn, sent a request to the city council to deprive the mother of her parental rights. They brutally humiliated the woman and condemned her upbringing, arguing that the boy should be sent to a specialized institution or a rehabilitation center “for drug addicts”.
After the stress experienced, Iryna turned to REAktor in desperation. The documentator, being aware of the procedure for the deprivation of parental rights, turned to the city council with a request to invite the mother and the REactor as her representative to the executive committee meeting. At the meeting, he explained the situation to the executive committee members and provided recommendations from the mother’s place of work and characteristics from the neighbors. The executive committee rejected the service for children and obliged them to allow the boy to have conversations with a psychologist.
On the recommendation of the documentator, the boy and his mother were referred to a friendly psychologist, who only needed a few meetings to work on the boy’s lifestyle and change it for the better. In addition, in cooperation with the head of the Department of Family Medicine, the boy was sent to a sanatorium to change the environment and communicate with his peers.