I must admit this is not a "get out of jail" card its just that as an early childhood educator and researcher what is happening to your family is intergenerational dysfunctionality, not a legal or mental health issue.

In 1972 the Carolina Abecedarian project was set up to see why people who had problems seem to pass them onto their kids generation after generation. The answer was very clear it is the first four years of a child's life. Domestic stress, TV on all day, arguments, drinking, drugs, low income, welfare dependency etc.etc.

Your country and mine know how to fix this crap but the banks stuffed up the whole game with their greed and sent the USA down the drain. Remember too that the USA has one of the largest unemployment rates in the world for a modern economy, your guy is not the only one out of work.

The Abecedarian Project

The Abecedarian project was a carefully controlled scientific study of the potential benefits of early childhood education for poor children. Four cohorts of individuals, born between 1972 and 1977, were randomly assigned as infants to either the early educational intervention group or the control group.

• Children from low-income families received full-time, high-quality educational intervention in a childcare setting from infancy through age 5.
• Each child had an individualized prescription of educational activities.
• Educational activities consisted of "games" incorporated into the child's day.
• Activities focused on social, emotional, and cognitive areas of development but gave particular emphasis to language.
• Children's progress was monitored over time with follow-up studies conducted at ages 12, 15, and 21.
• The young adult findings demonstrate that important, long-lasting benefits were associated with the early childhood program.

Google the Carolina Abecedarian project for more information.

Kind regards Jasmine