Dr. Phil: Who Gets Custody Of The Child?
Dr. Phil has been urging a pregnant teen who won’t stop using drugs to change her ways. To encourage her to do that, Dr. Phil and the pregnant teen, Sara, were joined on stage by the Medical Director for the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services Dr. Charles Sophy, and Los Angeles-based attorney and child advocate Areva Martin, who were there to talk about the unborn baby’s health and the unborn baby’s rights.
Pregnant teen Sara was given the chance to go to a medical treatment facility, or rehab. Will she take the offer? (Sam72 / Shutterstock.com)
Dr. Charles Sophy informed Sara that if it was determined that her abusing drugs while she’s pregnant, she could lose her child. She might not able to choose who takes care of it. In a previous segment, she’d said she would let her parents have custody. Dr. Sophy said that any child welfare agency that gets involved is going to see her parents as accomplices because they haven’t made any decisions to protect the child. He also said she may have the baby, but she might never get to hold it.
Dr. Phil: Mandated Reporters
Dr. Phil also said that there’s a term called “mandated reporters”. There are certain people in society that are mandated by law to report when they see someone abusing, neglecting, or endangering a child. Dr. Sophy, Areva Martin, and Dr. Phil are all mandated reporters. This means that they have no choice under the law but to report what’s going on.
Dr. Phil said that unless she does something to turn her life around, they’ll report them. He also offered a gift to both Sara and her older sister Sadie, a self-described drug addict. The gift was for them to go into dual-diagnosis drug treatment programs that will help get off drugs, with medical supervision and detoxification. They’ll also help Sara with her baby.
Dr. Phil introduced Ben Levenson, co-founder and CEO of Origins Recovery Centers, which has a center called Hannah’s House in Texas. They have treatment plans designed specifically for women and they’re capable of helping her get off drugs and get a handle on whether she has hurt her baby through her drug use.
“We’re in the fight for two lives here. This is a situation where, Sara, we’ve got to get honest. We have layers and layers and echos of traumas and alcoholism. We have to start digging in. We have to start making some changes,” he said.
Dr. Phil: Will She Go To Rehab?
Did Sara want to go there? She said she didn’t want to go to Texas. She wondered if she could just do drug-testing. She also said that she doesn’t do drugs all the time. Areva Martin said that she’s in denial about how serious her drug problem is. Dr. Sophy said once is all it takes to hurt the baby.
“One is one time too many for that baby,” Areva Martin said.
“You may never get to know that baby,” Dr. Sophy said.
Dr. Phil said that she can say yes or no, but he’s offering this to her. She said she hated being far away from home. Ben Levenson said that she’s already far away.
Dr. Phil: Turning Her Over To The Police
Ultimately, she said no. Dr. Phil said that was okay, but then he was going to have to report her. He listed the things she’s done. She’s admitted criminal behavior in the jurisdiction, so he said he was going to turn it over to the police.
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