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Question:
I am temporarily disabled and homeless I have a son with a history of mental illness who has received very poor medical treatment, he was released in July of 2016, and rearrested one month later for violation of parole, but within the month my son was stabbed, shot , robbed etc, It has been extremely tedious obtaining services, and advocating for him. I don't know if I should reach out to politicians,- And if so, in what order? I have made attempts in my community and rudely rejected. it seems everything has to be in a form of a letter. I have worked in this community as a social worker/program research analyst . I love helping people, and on my few good days I still interact . My heart goes out to the many who struggle with a disability or don't even know how to form a sentence. i can understand how people go about doing things in a poor negative manner, we don't have enough leaders , agencies, etc communicating effectively in order to prevent disasters and opening lines of communications in a positive manner so law suits can be prevented. I am in great despair. please if you can assist, or guide me with at least one question. I would be very grateful . I don't know where to begin.

God Bless
Answer:

         Thank you for writing to us with your question. Normally, we don’t respond to personal questions such as yours on Ask an Advisor, but we do understand the difficulty of the situation you describe.  
       We of course do not know all the details, but we can say that in seeking help of many different kinds, it is very important to know the resources in your community. It souns like you know something about this already, so that is a good start.  In your own case, who are the people or groups who might be best able to help you?  This can include your friends andcother personal contacts.   You could take a few minutes to create an actual written list. Then you could prioritize.
        Once you have done that, you would then naturally want to approach the people or groups at the top of your list.  It is often best to do so personally, rather than by e-mail or phone, for evidence suggests that face-to-face contacts are usually more effective.  See if you can make an appointment; or if you can’t do that, you could simply show up at their office. It is important to be polite, but also assertive here, and to make your needs very clear.  And if someone can’t help you directly, ask for a referral, and ask if you might use their name in making that referral contact.
        We don't want to suggest this is easy.  It can take persistence. And our apologies if we are saying things you know well already.   Again, we do not know the details of your situation. But in general we do believe that a personal, planned, prioritized, and persistent approach -- the four "p's" -- is likely to work best in getting what you need, and that those criteria hold true for seeking many other types of help in the community.  
         We do hope some of these thoughts may be helpful to you,   Thank you again for writing;  we send all best wishes for better timesahead.
 
        

Question Date: mar, 12/13/2016