Custodial dad denied mother any contact with son; son severely neglected and diagnosed as having catatonic schizophrenia (Hod Hasharon, Israel)

UNNAMED DAD managed to get custody of his son after he divorced the child's mother; he then shut off all contact between the child and the mother. Then the article gets vague, with references to the son's mental and physical deterioration over time. I don't think that just happened--it was a response to dad's severe neglect. When social service people finally caught up with "the boy"--now a man of 26--he was laying naked on a thin blanket on the floor in a horribly filthy house, and totally unresponsive. He's been diagnosed as having catatonic schizophrenia. Oh God, to think of what this person must have gone through to get to this state; it just makes your stomach turn.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3774922,00.html

Father indicted for severe neglect of son

Social services found young man last December lying naked in room covered with feces. 'Son lay naked on a thin blanket placed on floor,' indictment against father details

Raanan Ben-Zur Published: 09.10.09, 12:53 / Israel News

For years a father, resident of Hod Hasharon, neglected his son, 26, leaving him in a room littered with empty bottles, piles of trash and excrement, an indictment filed against the father with the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court suggests.

Last December, Ynet first published a report made to the Hod Hasharon welfare bureau on suspicion of neglect of a helpless individual, which led to a visit from social services to the young man's house. The father refused to let the social workers in.

When police forces arrived the father agreed to open the door. The officers entered a house reeking of a heavy stench. They found the young man lying naked on the floor in one of the rooms.

The indictment, filed by attorney Ayala Oren from the Central District Prosecutor's office, indicates that the man was placed under his father's care after he divorced his mother, and that over the years his mental and physical condition deteriorated to the point where he no longer was able to take care of himself. As a result he was in need of constant care and supervision.

The young man was kept under the sole supervision of his father, who denied him any contact with his mother. The charges also suggest that the father severely neglected his son. On December 10 he was found by social services in a serious condition in his home.

'House horribly filthy'

"The son lay naked on a thin blanket placed on the floor, covered with moldy blankets and was unresponsive to the repeated calls to him," the indictment details. "The house was horribly filthy, feces and urine spread on the floor and piles of trash and bottles thrown across the house. The table and floor had various traces of food."

The indictment further claims that the young man was rushed to the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba as a result of his severe mental and physical state, and was later on transferred to a psychiatric facility where he remains to this day, suffering from catatonic schizophrenia.

After the young man was located by social services it was revealed that the father had attempted to clean the house, although traces of urine and feces still remained. The father underwent questioning, was released and even returned to work. He refused to comment on the affair following his release.