Second, when I finally had the chance to
sit down and talk with Sheldon's mom,
she asked how long do you
scream when no one is listening?
Diana Elliott admits she
did something drastic,
but she says she didn't abandoned
her son here at Grady Hospital.
She said she left him with a note.
They said my name is
Sheldon winning junior
and it said his birthday
and the note had a simple message.
My mom needs help. The problem is nobody
ever found that note and Sheldon,
who has Down syndrome, is nonverbal.
I did take into account he could
drop the letter Rome out of the
door, roam out in the cold.
So Sheldon's mom waited nervously in a
motel room with her three other children
for an entire week. I'm thinking,
are they going to call me? They're
gonna see she need help and they are.
They're going to come help.
Her children grew restless,
wondering what was going on.
When did you finally just come
out and say? I left him there.
I still haven't been able to see it.
I still have not been able
to save. Maybe this this?
In my mind, I didn't look at
it like I was leaving them,
but I know I love him.
I have no weight. I didn't leave,
I didn't wanna leave forever.
I just wanted help. There's
something fundamentally wrong with
the system that lets that happen.
Yet it's the system we have. It
is a system we have.
But it is the system
Georgia's leaders in both the
House and Senate say they are
committed to fix. I think
this is just a personal issue for
everybody. They just don't know it yet.
Never did I want my child to leave
my home. I just wanted to help.
We shared our stories of systemic gaps.
Heartbreak leading to child abandonment
where they talk about our anger,
warning signs and workforce shortages,
mental health parity, the denial of
medically necessary services. Are
those fair issues to bring before
lawmakers and say, fix this? Yeah,
absolutely. I mean, we're using
state appropriated dollars to
fund a lot of these programs,
and it's certainly those are.
Those are proper questions to ask.
Those are proper conversations to have.
We have to identify the barriers and then
be prepared to knock those barriers down.
We traveled to Ohio, where Diana Elliott
is now living near her children Diana Hi,
to find out where that
Wrecking Ball should start at.
With that my modeling agency,
Diana says when she moved
her children to Georgia to
break into the movie biz,
she had no idea services for children
with special needs vary by state.
Her first barrier,
the school he would've
had 22 kids in the classroom.
Sheldon's never had that setting that
was making my paranoia go off so much.
I was like I don't know that
he'll be OK and I said it
so Diana kept him home,
but that's when she ran into another
wall in Ohio for a few hours each week.
Someone would come in and watch
Sheldon where you can get a moment
to yourself without that break.
Diana says it was impossible to
go to auditions or get a job.
No job, no credit, no money for rent.
Only when we lived there,
when money for a motel ran out,
they went to the airport for shelter.
That's bad. Like literally,
arson cases were on the benches
and were sleeping in the airport.
He and his kids did their
best to go with the flow.
Sheldon struggled with the change and
with his vision he has in this stagnant.
So when we're looking at still pictures,
he's looking at a picture
that's moving like this.
If his base is to open or too high,
he gets scared stairs or a challenge.
That's when he throws his tantrum and
he gets really aggressive and there's a
couple of tightly knit pull hair my hair
out and there was one more big barrier.
I like to call myself a phoenix.
Diana needed help too.
Since childhood she has struggled
with PTSD, anxiety and depression. I
also received mental health benefits as well.
'cause I grew up in foster care
and there's a whole lot in my
jacket where I can be COO, COO.
But you know, I use it as strength.
But strength has its limits according
to data provided by defects,
the state takes custody of about 650
children a year because of the parents
mental health or substance abuse.
Take a lift for Diana.
The breaking point was an abusive
relationship. She escaped
moving her family back into a motel,
but Sheldon refused to go inside. He
thought he bought and he thought,
but I don't know that day.
I don't have anymore fighting me. So
instead of forcing him inside yet
one more motel room, she left
him for the moment somewhere she
thought he would be safe. Akash back
in Ohio. Two years later so
we have bids coming soon.
Diane and her children say they
have more family support and
access to things Sheldon needs.
One by one. To
me she says she has apologized to him
over and over in song hugs and simply
time to gather from craft projects
to his 16th birthday celebration.
Their home is humble yet
beauty is everywhere.
I I don't want all of this be for nothing.
While police never found Diana's note,
lawmakers say they have heard her message.
This is not going to be a one
session fix to this system is
this is going to be a multi year.
Effort have a little bit of patience
because this is a big problem.
Government don't do well with tough problems.
But we're going to do well with this.