Would you send your 8 year old on a "field trip" that began at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night?

Long story short, there is a woman who lives across the street in a crappy, small rental. She has 4 kids living with her ranging from 4 to 11. Rick says the kids sleep in a camper in the back yard. I don’t know that for sure, but it sure is a tiny house for all those kids.
The kids came to play with my grand daughter once, and I learned that the woman is their grandmother. They live with her because their mother “doesn’t want them any more.” The matter of factness with the way the one child told me that broke my heart.
I hate the grandmother. All she does is scream at them.

Although the kids were really super when they were here, one of them, a boy, about 8, has some pretty serious mental issues, a lot of pain and fear. Every so often he fires up in an absolutely helpless, frustrated, screaming rage in the front yard. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

The other evening, about 6 p.m, he fired up. There was a van with the word “Connections” written on the side, parked in front of the house. They were trying to get him in the van and he did NOT want to get in. He screamed and ran for 10 minutes. I think they finally gave up.

I looked Connections up and it’s an online school program for kids K-12. I guarantee you the child is not home schooled, so maybe he’s connected with them through his regular public school.

I posted this story on Facebook, and one person suggested that they were there to take the kid on a field trip.

I say that’s a weird time to be taking an elementary aged kid on a field trip. 6:00 is about the time I start winding the kids down to be ready for bed at 8:00. Taking the kid out that late would mean that after a couple of hours you have a cranky child to deal with, because it would be past his bed time. Also, to me “field trip” implies multiple cranky children.
And after they gets home, the care givers have to get him ready for bed.

I just don’t see a “field trip” in there, do you?