Replies to '07/01 A Secret Inside: Extreme Hoarding'

I turned my daughter in for the conditions she was forcing her son to live in.  She was given 30 days to clean it up.  She proved she was working at it and they dropped the case.  Once the 'threat' was over, she went back to her slovenly ways.

The thing that is hard to believe is how these folks can walk out of those homes looking perfect and squeaky clean!!  My daughter has spent 19 years in the Air Force...HOW can she be such a pig at home?  How can she deprive her son of a place to play or have friends over? 

While she was in Iraq, my grandson and I gutted his room and redid it.  The 2 cats had used his room for a litter pan so I gave them away.  It hurt him but as we pulled the rug off the floor...he understood.  We discovered mold and mildew also.  I became physically sick several times a day!  After hauling his mothers things out of his room and putting the 20 large bottles of laundry soap and 32 bottles of softener in the laundry room, went through the shopping bags and put things away...the room became manageable.  We spent most of the summer on his room because we could only work on 1/4th of it at a time and I had a broken leg. 

We started on her room and the laundry room.  The cats had used her room also.  Her room is half  the basement and was piled to within inches of the ceiling.  6 months later and it looks even worse than when we cleaned it up!  AND she's in debt again!  I had control of her money when she was in Iraq.  I got all her debts paid off and had over 5 thousand in savings for her!

I just threatened her again so she's attempting to clean up.  My grandson is now 11 and it's becoming harder and harder to explain to his friends why they can't come play at his house.  He can't even let them in the front door!

My daughter refuses 'professional help' because of her job in the Air Force.  She has NO organizational skills.  I get her organized and she does well for awhile, but eventually she buys so much that there is just NO place to go with it all.  I don't know what to do anymore!  You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!  She's got a huge heart and does a lot of charity work but I tell her charity begins at home and she just rolls her eyes.  It's a no win situation.

I hope to learn how to get through to her by watching this show.  They have to WANT help to GET help!

CPS has some very strange rules when it comes to removing a child from his home.  Most of the time they just threaten.  How would the school know when the child comes to school in designer clothes and squeaky clean? 

Sunny 

On one hand, Dr Phil or the producers are to be commended for puting this show on.  Kudos for not treating it like a "boo hoo, pity me"  for being a horader, spectacle like Oprah did last year.  At least this show came across with some caring for the kids.   There have been a number of comments about the children and lack of action by CPS.  The big question is will Dr Phil do anything about it?   Is it important enought for him to do a follow up with authorities?   Or isn't there enough shock value for ratings in that idea?

I am a foster parent, too, and I was thinking along the same lines.  I felt so bad for those poor kids! I'm sure that Dr. Phil would have alerted the local authorities and they would have made certain that those kids would not have spent one more night in that vile house!  Just the thought of the unnecessary illnesses those children could have contracted from breathing the mold and animal feces and nasty garbage that has been rotting in that house ~ it's horrible! I wonder if those kids have had a lot of sick days from school? 

Even if Dr. Phil had sent in a team of people to clean out that house, if the mom does not get well, she would probably trash the place in very little time, just like she did to the home of her friend who had cancer.  And, it sounds like it's going to take her some time to 'persuade' her to part with her rotting food and clutter!  Those kids need a clean, safe living environment in the meantime! 

Not to mention the fact that this woman was drinking on the show!  If you have to drink to cope with the fact that you can no longer abuse pain pills, you probably have a drinking problem!