In the news today was the story of a 15 year old boy named Ethan Johnson who ran away from home and rode his push bike to Sydney because he wanted to see more of the city. Initial reactions might have been give the kid a good smack. However this kid sufferers from Aspergers syndrome. This is defined as a pervasive developmental disorder, usually of childhood, characterized by impairments in social interactions and repetitive behavior patterns.
Whilst I'm no childhood expert I have worked with Aspergers kids before and if they have their mind set on something it is almost impossible to change their mind. However I'm not sure his parents had the best approach to keeping him safe. Apparently they were putting money in his account "enough to keep him eating". Well surely police could have tracked his eftpos transactions and stopped him.
Yes He would have been hard to stop but surely the parents have a duty of care instead of leaving him to sleep on park benches and providing him with income to keep going. The police could have picked him up- given him a tour of Sydney and sent him home safely- I mean it took him 6 days to ride to Sydney but then he was gone for almost 2 weeks??? He was found in a western Sydney train station- West Sydney is a dangerous place- people are killed there routinely.
I'm not blaming the child but I am saying parents should be held a bit more accountable- yes he has a disability but that isn't enough of an excuse and neither is passing the buck by blaming it on bullying.
No comments:
Post a Comment