In a tell-all interview, Kate Gosselin, 41, revealed to People mag that one of her 12-year-old sextuplets, Collin, is currently “away,” living in a facility that’s helping him better develop “life skills.” “Colin has special needs,” Kate explained to the publication. “[There’s] a fairly fluid diagnosis of what those needs are, but he needs to learn certain strategies to help him deal with things. This has been a struggle we’ve had for a very long time.”
Pretty intense, right? But we have to say, the situation must be dire if Kate was willing to send her boy away. And Dr. Carole Lieberman, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist and author who treats children and families, agrees. “Usually a child’s condition has to be fairly serious to be sent away,” Carole told HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY.
“[Kate] has not revealed his diagnosis, but it could be something on the autism spectrum, or a childhood psychosis, or simply a behavioral personality disorder.” And while behavioral problems are not uncommon in children, Carole made sure to point out that Collin’s life experience so far has been very UNCOMMON, which may have played a major role in his current situation.
“Whatever the underlying disorder, it was made significantly worse by the parental conflict and divorce, as well as being forced to be a TV star and put under the microscope,” the doctor continued. But no matter how poorly behaved a child is, it’s never easy for a parent to send them away — and it’s not easy for the other kids in the household either.
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“Collin has clearly had psychological problems for awhile. But, at 12 years old, he has now become too much for Kate to handle,” Carole told us. “The other children [likely] feel both relieved to have one less sibling to compete with for mommy’s attention, and scared that they’ll be sent away, too, if they do something wrong.”
And while Kate never revealed any details surrounding Collin’s absence in order to protect his privacy, Carole shared that the boy is most likely participating in a program were he’s being treated by “psychiatrists, psychologists, teachers, and others who provide various psychotherapy modalities, medication, and schooling.” Sounds like a one-stop shop to us! We’re just glad Collin is supposedly getting the help he needs.
The good news is that these types of programs, according to Carole, are usually effective — if the child stays there long enough. “For Collin to be able to move back home, he will need a lot of psychotherapy and possibly medication, depending upon his diagnosis,” she said. We wish Collin and the rest of the Gosselin family the best of luck in dealing with this challenging situation.
Tell us, HollywoodLifers, what do you think about Collin living away from the family? Do you think Kate made the right decision?