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In Justice and Love: The Christian Life in a Home with Mental Health Needs

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Parenting as Spiritual Practice and Source for Theology

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Abstract

Through personal narrative, theological and ethical reflection, and public health analysis this essay seeks to open the conversation on the spiritual needs and ethics of parenting a family with a special needs child. Dávila argues that, in a family with an “explosive child,” questions about fairness and justice abound in the home, the church, and society. While a number of theologians have paved the way for thinking theologically about physical and mental challenges, for families with children who require psychiatric and emotional assistance, these topics remain dangerously taboo. Dávila suggests that church and society can begin to empower parents in these situations by shedding light on the problem, extending appropriate pastoral care to families, and offering supportive communities where our stories and our children are understood and welcome. This essay thus reimagines a vision of justice in the home when circumstances may feel like chaos and unfairness rule.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sarah Childress, “The Gun-Control Movement, Two Years After Newtown,” FRONTLINE, accessed December 19, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-gun-control-movement-two-years-after-newtown/; Frank James, “Newtown Anniversary Marked By Gun Control Stalemate,” NPR.org, accessed December 10, 2013, http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/12/13/250808035/newtown-anniversary-marked-by-gun-control-stalemate.

  2. 2.

    Ashley Killough, “After Newtown, Mental Health Gains Prominence in Gun Debate—CNNPolitics.com,” CNN, accessed December 14, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/politics/newtown-mental-health/index.html; Liz Szabo, “Newtown Shooting Prompts Calls for Mental Health Reform,” USA TODAY, accessed January 7, 2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/07/newtown-shooting-mental-health-reform/1781145/.

  3. 3.

    Liza Long, “The Anarchist Soccer Mom: Thinking the Unthinkable,” (originally published as “I am Adam Lanza’s mother”), The Anarchist Soccer Mom, December 14, 2012, http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html.

  4. 4.

    Ibid.

  5. 5.

    Liza Long, “I Am Not Adam Lanza’s Mother,” The Blue Review, December 14, 2013, accessed May 31, 2015, https://thebluereview.org/not-adam-lanzas-mother/.

  6. 6.

    I have not been able to substantiate this claim by the social workers that led my parenting class with reliable sources. Verifiable estimates range between 25–45% of children in state care receiving psychotropic medication. It is possible, however, that the social workers’ high estimate included medication for other emotional and psychiatric conditions that would not fall under those studied more closely. Massachusetts was one of a number of states that in the past years has had to review its protocol for supervising consent, treatment, dosage, and interactions of medication to children and minors in its custody as a result of failure to follow the national standards. See Jessalyn Schwartz, “Overprescribed and Underserved: Psychotropic Medication and Foster Care in the U.S.,” Northeastern University Law Review 6, no. 2 (Summer 2014), http://nulawreview.org/extralegalrecent/overprescribed-and-underserved-psychotropic-medication-and-foster-care-in-the-us.

  7. 7.

    An overview of common mental health concerns for children and youth in state custody can be found at American Academy of Pediatrics, “Mental and Behavioral Health,” https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/healthy-foster-care-america/Pages/Mental-and-Behavioral-Health.aspx.

  8. 8.

    Penny Williams, “Lack of Mental Healthcare for Children Reaches ‘Crisis’ Level,” Healthline, June 23, 2015, http://www.healthline.com/health-news/lack-of-mental-healthcare-for-children-reaches-crisis-level-062315.

  9. 9.

    See Rick Mayes, Catherine Bagwell, and Jennifer Erkulwater, Medicating Children: ADHD and Pediatric Mental Health (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), Chapter 6: “The Backlash Against ADHD and Stimulants”.

  10. 10.

    For a concise description of challenges to mental health care for children and youth in the last 20 years, see Lee Gutkind, “After Mental Illness, an Up and Down Life,” The New York Times, November 9, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/after-mental-illness-an-up-and-down-life.html.

  11. 11.

    Ruth Perou et al., “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children—United States, 2005–2011,” https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6202a1.htm?s_cid=su6202a1_w.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    See Awat Feizi, et al., “Parenting Stress among Mothers of Children with Different Physical, Mental, and Psychological Problems,” Journal of Research in Medical Sciences : The Official Journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences 19, no. 2 (February 2014): 145–152.

  15. 15.

    Child Trends Data Bank, “Individualized Education Plans: Indicators on Children and Youth,” September 2012, http://www.childtrends.org/?indicators=individualized-education-plans.

  16. 16.

    Nicholas Zill, “Adoption from Foster Care: Aiding Children While Saving Public Money | Brookings Institution,” Brookings CCF Brief #43, May 2011, https://www.brookings.edu/research/adoption-from-foster-care-aiding-children-while-saving-public-money/.

  17. 17.

    Perou, et al., “Mental Health Surveillance Among Children—United States, 2005–2001”.

  18. 18.

    Among them: Michael G. Lawler and Gail S. Risch, “Covenant Generativity: Toward a Theology of Christian Family,” Horizons 26, no. 1 (April 1999): 7–30, doi:10.1017/S0360966900031509; John Frederic Kilner, Paige Comstock Cunningham, and William David Hager, eds., The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies, and the Family (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000); Jack and Judith Balswick, The Family: A Christian Perspective on the Contemporary Home (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic/Brazos Press, 2007); John Loren and Paula Sandford, Restoring the Christian Family (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma Media, 2009).

  19. 19.

    See, for example Kathleen Deyer Bolduc, His Name is Joel: Searching for God in a Son’s Disability (Louisville, KY: Bridge Resources, 1999); Stanley Hauerwas, Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdman’s, 2010), and Rosemary Radford Ruether, Many Forms of Madness: a Family’s Struggle with Mental Illness and the Mental Health System (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010).

  20. 20.

    St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II.II.57–122.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., I.II. 90, 93, and 95, among others. See Albino Barrera, “The Common Good as Good Order and Due Proportion,” in his Modern Catholic Social Documents and Political Economy (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2001), for resources on the concept of the common good in Thomas Aquinas.

  22. 22.

    Aaron K. Taylor, “St. Thomas Aquinas and the Idea of the Common Good,” 2010, http://catholicsocialteaching.yolasite.com/st-thomas-aquinas-and-the-idea-of-the-common-good.php.

  23. 23.

    Ibid.

  24. 24.

    Martha Nussbaum, “Women’s Capabilities and Social Justice,” Journal of Human Development 1, no. 2 (July 1, 2000): 219–247.

  25. 25.

    Ibid., 220–221, 228.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., 231–233.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., 233.

  28. 28.

    See for example: Joyce Emmons Nuner and Tamara Stringet Love, “Church Ministry and the Child with Autism,” Family and Community Ministries, Vol 26 (2013): 97–115; Amy Jacober, “Ostensibly Welcome: Exploratory Research on the Youth Ministry Experiences of Families of Teenagers with Disabilities,” The Journal of Youth Ministry, Vol 6, No. 1 (Fall 2007): 67–92; MaLesa Breeding and Dana Hood, “Voices Unheard: Exploring the Spiritual Needs of Families of Children with Disabilities,” Christian Education Journal; Glen Ellyn 4, no. 2 (Fall 2007): 279–292; Kent Camp, “Through a Glass Darkly: Churches Struggle to Respond to People with Mental Illness,” Family and Community Ministries, 23 No. 4 (Winter–Spring 2010): 24–27. I should point out that much of the literature focuses on ministry to families with children with disabilities, not specifically mental health. Much of the literature on ministry and mental health is actually focused on stresses and care of ministers themselves.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Andover Newton Theological School, Malden, MA, USA

    María Teresa Dávila

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  1. María Teresa Dávila
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. St. Catherine University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA

    Claire Bischoff

  2. Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA

    Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo

  3. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

    Annie Hardison-Moody

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Dávila, M.T. (2017). In Justice and Love: The Christian Life in a Home with Mental Health Needs. In: Bischoff, C., O’Donnell Gandolfo, E., Hardison-Moody, A. (eds) Parenting as Spiritual Practice and Source for Theology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59653-2_14

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