Lived there for 3 years..which was 3 years too lon
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10/21/2014
I begged my ex husband to move out west, where I had family, because I needed help with our son who was just starting to show what we now realize were signs of autism.
His solution was to move to *this* city, where we did not have any family. The locals could tell we weren't from around there, and we were promptly treated like the outsiders we were. Thankfully he was transferred by his company, or he would never have been able to get a job.
When we found a house, we were promised many repairs and upgrades to the property....verbally. Those never came to be, and our neighbors being crazy did not help our living situation at all. An attempt to take our neighbors to court lead us to the discovery that the man who owned their house owned most of the town and we would not be able to find any form of representation. Within just a few days of moving in a door to door solicitor came to collect funds to put defibrillators in the local ambulances..as apparently many in the area did not have them.
Though almost every business had a "Now Hiring" sign posted in the window, every single one I went into and tried to apply for told me they kept the signs up 'just in case' and that they were not actively hiring. Good thing my (then) husband had a job, or we likely would have starved.
While I was able to get my son's autism diagnosed and some services were provided for him, there was ZERO support for parents and caregivers available in the area.
Being an outsider, I could find nowhere to fit in and no friends to associate with. Sure, everyone was polite and friendly enough when I ran into them in public, but I could tell I wasn't welcome.
When the depression, isolation and frustration finally got too intense for me to bear I sought help from a doctor. The doctor handed me two samples of an anti depressant and told me to follow up with county mental health.
I was never able to track down a phone number or address for county mental health, as absolutely no one seemed to know anything about them.
I finally had a nervous breakdown and just left the area, divorcing my husband and leaving our son in his custody as he was the only one with a stable job and home.
If you aren't from here, don't have at least 4 generations of family here, and have the 'wrong accent' I would highly recommend moving anywhere but here. Unless, of course, you'd like to live like a hermit and will never need treatment for anything beyond a common cold.
Rebecca | Seffner, FL