With growing opinions, growing ideas and a growing mind, your child has left home to attend college. The signs of independence arrived, and the actual signs of adulthood remain just around the corner. However, like some young adults, questionable decisions surface, leading to potentially severe consequences.
And you get the call from him. He is in jail. Police arrested him on charges of possession and distribution of a controlled substance. You have always been available for your child, and this is not the time to abandon him. He needs help, he needs guidance, and he needs to find how to successfully fight these charges. Not only does is his future at the college at stake, but so is his life path.
Commit to yourself and community
It is not too late to help your child overcome these criminal charges. This situation does not represent a lost cause. However, you know what is at risk. Expulsion from college, conviction and incarceration. The focus is now helping your child in getting the charges reduced through a plea bargain or dismissed.
Some of the potential steps that your son can do to secure a more favorable outcome include:
- Sign up for a drug awareness program. This represents a small, necessary and initial step toward gaining a favorable resolution. Judges and prosecutors will take note as your son gets a deeper tutorial on drugs, their effects and appeal and how they derail lives.
- Swiftly enroll in a drug rehabilitation program. Your son is taking the initiative and doing this to gain help, find answers and recover. This also represents a significant step because, in many cases, the court will order you to do so, anyway.
- Volunteer for community involvement endeavors. This may represent part of your son’s repentance. But view this more as helping your community, learning about the people who live there and the challenges they face. People from across the spectrum need assistance, and the list includes the poverty- or hunger-stricken, substance abusers, troubled teens, the homeless and victims of violence.
Do your best to not let a drug charge disrupt and change your son’s direction in life. It is crucial to make a sincere effort that, ultimately, could lead to a favorable outcome. Your child’s future is at stake.