Should I do the reading or not?

OK, a background story, pretty scary really:

A few days ago a 15-year old boy in a youthcare facility (something in between jail and some kind of mental facility) murdered his female caretaker with a knife.

Tonight I got a very distrubing e-mail from a very upset mom. Her son was witness to the entire thing going on and is now very very agitated. She asks me if she should bring her son home or not. Obvious he is that facility for a reason....

I am kind of disturbed by this question 1) I am not totally sure that this is a wise question to ask someone consulting the cards at all. Should not that be a question asked to the persons in charge of the facility? 2) I am fairly fresh on doing readings for people, but I have been very active on helping people outin different questions and mostly been very accurate. But it is one thing of doing a reading about upcoming lovelife and one thing on doing readings for something that can have lifechanging consequenses! And yes, I admit - I am scared of the responsibility put on my shoulders!

IF (and this is a big if) I choose to do this reading after all - can someone pls help me modifing the question so the reading will be about the mom (who is asking) and not her son and so that the responsibility of choice still remains in her hands and not based on the tarot cards alone?

I was thinking something on the lines of: "What should she take in consideration while making the desision?
And maybe using this three-card spread:
Situation/Advice/Outcome

Help pls!

Bloudwedd said:

Obvious he is that facility for a reason....

I am kind of disturbed by this question 1) I am not totally sure that this is a wise question to ask someone consulting the cards at all. Should not that be a question asked to the persons in charge of the facility? Help pls!

Click to expand...

I think the above statement not only answered your question here, but is very very important to remember---

He is in that facility for a reason, and this is a question that should be answered only by the people in charge of the facility where this boy is.

I'd avoid this reading with at least a 10ft. pole. Not sure what you should say to the mother of this boy, but I also feel that possibly she already has made her mind up to bring him home, and could possibly be looking for 'back-up' through yourself and the cards.

I'd take it totally out of the realm of 'should I' (which results in a yes/no answer and her decision being whether to follow the reading's answer or not) and try something that gives her some information to think about or as a list of subject areas to consult with the professions in charge of her son's care.

Something like:
- what are the physical/safety factors to keep in mind
- what are the emotional factors to keep in mind
(etc for what seems relevent)
- what else am I not seeing that I need to be aware of

then forking the path so your situation/advice/outcome is done for each option (leaving him where he is vs bringing him home).

This way, she's left with a lot more clarity and guidance about her situation but the choice of which path is appropriate remains in her hands.

The problem about reading on this, as you have said, is that the mom might blame you or the cards if the outcome isn't good. Personally, I would tell her to go with commom sense, however...she asked.

Do you know her well enough to predict if she will take the responsibility for the decision she herself makes? If not, I'd turn her down, in a heartbeat. If you do decide to read for her, you could do a side-by-side comparison of the 2 choices.
A) What if I take my son out of the facility and
B) What if I leave my son in the facility?

In 3-4 cards, storyline style, you should see clear differences in the choices. Or you can have each card position have a meaning, like:
situation, challenge, advice, and outcome....and lastly, in (x) months will I be glad I chose this option?
That leaves it in her lap, and covers most of the basses, given that she is a woman who takes responsibility for her choices in the first place.

good luck to you what ever you do--this is a toughie!

Just an small update:

I decided to go with my gut feelings in this case and not do the reading for her. Based on two things really. One thing that magpie wrote: No I do not know her well at all. She is an online client coming back for more advice. So I dont know how she will handle the facts. 2)I did some background research on what kind of facility this was and found that it was a home for boys who had commited different varieties of sexual assaults. This if nothing else made me bring out the 10 feet pole celticnoodled referred too! I definitely do not want to mess in things that professional psychaiatrists can do so much better! Especially not since it looks like her desicion can affect so many other lives but hers and her sons.

But thanks for the input all! Really appreicated! I guess this is the dark side of the coin of being a tarot reader. Having to realise the times when you cant help or should not help.................