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Showing posts from October, 2016

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. One of the toughest cases that I’d ever had to handle personally was one I worked on as an intern at Legal Services for the Elderly ( www.mainelse.org ). The client was a gentleman with an adult son living in a separate building on the client’s property. The son had access to the client’s house. The son was severely mentally ill and had an alcohol problem, and he would frequently stop taking his prescribed medication and go on drinking binges. Our client had given the son multiple ultimatums that if he didn’t stop drinking and go back on his meds, he would have to move off of the client’s property. The son even had other living arrangements available to him. I don’t remember the son’s source of income, but he apparently had enough money to buy alcohol, at least on occasion. The son had seriously assaulted the client on several occasions, but the client refused to press criminal charges. We became involved after a particularly serious alt