So I went on trevorchat.com last night and tonight and got an opportunity to vent my feelings to someone that was willing to listen and wouldn't judge me. I talked about everything that had been bothering me, from my inner feelings to being bullied. They listened, comforted me, and offered suggestions on how to deal with things. I though it was great... until a few minutes ago. Just a few minutes ago, I got done talking to a cop that showed up at my family's house concerned that I was being abused. He said he got a call from California child protective services about some IMs with someone online. The only person who I have IMed in the last four years is trevorchat. They reported my parents to the CPS over me saying my dad used to be abusive but he isn't anymore, I dont see him much, and I didn't want him reported because we are on better terms. I just thought this was funny and that's why I'm sharing it. By the way, I'm not telling anyone to stay away from trevorchat, I'm just telling a funny experience I had with it. It was actually very helpful up until now.
Wow. I think I would probably have chosen a word other than "funny" to describe the experience if it had happened to me. It can be a challenge sometimes when someone reports something that sounds harmful or hurtful to make a determination of when/if any action should be taken based on the reports. We (EC) do have a process in place to make such evaluations, but it's a considered and thoughtful one, and it's really rare when we actually need to make such a report... and in the very few times we have, I don't think we've ever had a "false positive" (meaning, the person really did need help, and was able to get it.) What can happen sometimes is that someone will, on their own, decide to make their own report. We've actually had a situation where a (very codependent) member got annoyed that we wouldn't report a given situation that he considered to be serious and reported it himself. In that circumstance, we were able to discuss the matter with the authorities and the member in question and prevent anything from happening... but I suspect our procedure and policy is probably more nuanced than most other online communities. It's a tough call... you don't want to fail to report a situation and have someone suffer harm as a result, but you also don't want to report something and inadvertently create more harm by causing further anxiety or unrest for the member or his/her family members. Try and remember that people at any of these organizations (trevor project, EC, etc) are doing their best to ensure people get what they need... which may not always be what they want.
I think the reason I found it funny was 1. I have an odd sense of humor, and 2. I don't think it's funny that they called cps, I think it was funny when the cop showed up, my mom was telling my step dad that were being robbed and to get the gun, and I can just imagine my step dad at the door in long underwear holding a shotgun to a confused cop. By the way, I'm not blaming the trevor progect for anything, they were just doing their job. They thought I was in danger and they got help. I'm not mad or anything. It just made my Friday night a little more interesting.
