16 years was all Christopher Brown was allowed in this life. For unknown reason he was transferred from Blue Hills Child and Family Services in Aurora which specialized in problems he suffered from to a more general military academy named Robert Land Academy.
It is clear that this was not the right placement for him. Otherwise he would not have run away. Teenagers passing through a rite of passage to adulthood are vulnerable to pressure and for them to fulfill their potential the best gift you can give them is to expect nothing from them so they find the path they want to go through based on motivation and interest. It might not be the path we parents traveling with the experiences of a childhood in another decade would approve of but it is not our lives to live. It is their lives.
Someone took the liberty to plan his future. It did not turn out that well.
Webpages advising parents clearly state that you can give it one week at most before you decide if the child has given the residential school a chance. If they child doesn’t like the school environment within that week the only right thing to do is to pull them regardless of the alternatives at hand. Of course this is basic knowledge of today. It might not have been available to the relatives back then or they could have been placed at the school by the authorities and in cases involving the authorities none care about the well-being of the children.
He was misplaced at the academy. The only comfort his family can get is that he found peace in a better place than Robert Land Academy
Sources:
- Former students criticize military-style school after two deaths (Prince George Citizen Online)
- Family, friends mourn cadet killed by train Dozens of students attend from academy (Toronto Star)
- Teen cadet fled before Police returned him (The Spectator)
- Victim List – Canada (Fornits Wiki)
Enormous loss 