All (public and private) polices and laws can cause people to experience abandonment issues. It does not matter which side of the debate you are on each side or both will experience feelings of abandonment. It cannot be avoided! Think of an issue you feel strongly about and apply this concept and you will see what I mean.

Abandonment issues are problems or difficulties that cause people to feel abandoned (real or feared) when they are denied access to programs and services due to social, public or private polices or laws. They are alienated from receiving services including, but not limited to:

1. Social services

2. Medical care

3. Financial support

4. Educational funding opportunities and/or services

5. Employment services and/or jobs

6. Housing assistance and/or opportunities

7. Legal services or support

8. Civic rights

9. Voting rights

People are denied opportunities to fully participate in society and to use services or take advantage of opportunities that are available to the majority of society. This causes people to cope with life without the support and benefit of public and social services. Polices and laws are passed to protect people. Sometimes they can handicap individuals and their children, and deny them the opportunities to sustain themselves. Social and public polices can cause people to feel and experience abandonment.

I am asking you to identify examples of this in your comments in the blog.

To get you started lets look at the social and public polices that have contribute to women going to jail and being homeless after they are released. They are ineligible for support or school.

This information is taken from the program of the play: Any One of Us: Words From Prison Miami - conceived by Eve Ensler and revised, with permission, by Leslie Neal, held at the Gusman Center for The Performing Arts on October 18, 2007 in Miami, FL. It was sponsored by Artspring and Women's Fund of Miami-Dade.

                                                                NUMBER TOO BIG TO IGNORE:

• 33% of girls in detention have attempted suicide
• 49% of all girls in detention report self-mutilation
• 53% of those girls parents have a history of substance abuse
• 59% of girls in detention have moved homes five or more times in their lifetime
• 59% of girls parents are or have been incarcerated
• 64% of girls in detention in Miami-Dade County report being abused at least one time in their lives (half were abused by a parent)
• 90% of women in prison have been abused
• 551% increase in Florida's female prison population between 1977 and 2004

As you view this video from the Bridging The Gap Writing Workshop please do the following:

1. Listen to each of the abandonment experiences and events from the girls and women
2. Keep in mind the word abandonment as they talk about each of their experiences
3. Listen to their pain and feelings of abandonment being away from their children, family, and friends.
4. Examine how the Drug polices in this country are part of the problems and not part of the solutions

Remember, we can't treat what we don't understand...and it's all about abandonment!