PSU Magazine Winter 1994

• • inda and Ronald Reilly thought they'd reached the end of the line. The Reilly , parents of a 19-year-old daughter suffering from chronic schizophre– nia, had tried ju t about everything during a three-year period from 1986 to 1989. They'd enlisted the aid of a p ychologist and a child psychiatri t, enrolled their daughter in a day treatment center, and had their daughter try various medications. Attempt to ca re fo r their daughter at home also proved unsucces ful, resulting in hospital– ization on three separate occasions. Finally, in 1990, the Portland couple agreed that they couldn't safely keep her at home. Their onl y daughter would need to be placed in a mental health fac ility. "We agonized over the deci– sion," Linda Reilly recalls. "You'd neverput your child out of your home if they were ill, we thought." The Reillys, like hundreds of other O regon parents of emotionally or behav iorally disabled children, were devastated. They had tried to help their daughter, wonder– ing at times if they were to blame, but her problem- 12 PSU Magazine PSU helped pass a new Oregon law that allows parents to keep custody of their disabled children. By Brian White like many mental illnesses-had phys ica l roots; it was caused by a chemical imba lance. The Reillys weren't emotionall y prepared fo r another fac t. In order to place their child in a state-funded fac ility, they would be required to release custody of her to the state. They couldn't afford the high cost of priva te out-of-home treatment, which can run more than 30,000 a year. The Reillys winced at the stigma of lo ing custody of their daughter. After all, they hadn't been neglectful or abusive. But at the time, O regon law was applied in such a manner that parents of children with serious d i ab ili ties were routinely required to transfer legal custody of their children to the state in order to recei ve the nece sary out-of-home treatment. "Thi really upset me," says Linda Reilly. "You don't want to lose custody fo r several reasons. First, there's the horror and trauma of giving up your child . Al o, by giving up custody you lose the authority to help make dec i– sion as part of your child 's treatment." Fortunate ly, she had plen ty of people behind her-parent fac ing imilar <lec i ions, concerned state officials, anJ the O regon Family Support Network. Reilly al o came in contact with the Portland tare-based Resea rch an<l Training Center on