Unruly Behavior? Mental Illness? Autism?

This article puports to discuss the problem of "parents who are forced to give up custody of their child in order to gain access to mental health care". But in the article it's clear that no one agrees on the boy's diagnosis, there is no federal funding to help him even if they did decide on a diagnosis, the parents are overwhelmed, and this child is being somehow lost. I think this article is representative of the confusion that is the American health care "system":
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Mother regrets giving state custody of son
Parents forced to give up child so medical care would continue

It's a choice no parent should have to make: Cope inadequately with a son or daughter's ever-worsening mental illness or surrender the child to the state in hopes of assuring the care the child needs.

"A parent should never have to give up custody to get services, but it happens. Believe me, it happens," said Jane Adams, director at Keys for Networking, a Topeka-based advocacy program for mentally ill children and their parents.

It happened to Leslie and Shane Sharp, a Lawrence couple whose 14-year-old son, Jeremiah, has been in and out of psychiatric care since he was 6 years old.

In February, social workers notified the Sharps that Jeremiah was about to be sent home from an Overland Park psychiatric hospital. But the Sharps said there was no way they could handle Jeremiah's erratic behavior while caring for their three other children, ages 6, 3 and 17 months.

"We love Jeremiah with all our hearts, but he lives in another world," Sharp said. "He can't handle more than one thought at a time. The last time he was here, he dropped the baby because he forgot he was holding her."

Difficult diagnosis

Because Jeremiah's illness is so severe, he is eligible for a program administered by Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services designed to keep children out of state-run hospitals by providing comparable services in the community.

Sharp, a stay-at-home mom, said Jeremiah's diagnosis had been hard to nail down.

He's also been diagnosed "schizoaffective disorder," she said.

"He's very manic," she said. "He has these rapid mood swings. He can be laughing and giggling and in just a few seconds be mad and sad and inconsolable.

"And he obsesses on things. If he gets it in his head that he wants a cookie, he'll ask for a cookie. And if I say ‘No, it's almost dinnertime,' he'll say, ‘But, Mom, I'm hungry.' He won't let go. He'll say it 50 times if he has to -- I'm not exaggerating. It'll go on like that for hours."

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