EXCLUSIVE Mom who kicked out mentally ill daughter, nine, because she was 'too hard to handle' claps back at haters

Daily Mail​

4 hours ago

A mother who kicked her mentally ill daughter, nine, out of her house because she was 'too hard to handle' has clapped back at haters.
Megan Morris, from Sapulpa, Oklahoma, explained during an exclusive chat with the Daily Mail that her daughter, whose name has been hidden for privacy reasons, started acting out when she was only a toddler.
And as she got older, the youngster's 'outbursts' only got worse.
She would erupt into fits of rage if her parents said no or if she felt overwhelmed; and sometimes, she would even get violent, 'lashing out physically with no warning' and 'attacking her siblings unprovoked,' leaving them terrified.
She once reached behind from the back seat and covered her mom's eyes while she was driving, almost resulting in a horrific car accident.
On another occasion, she flipped the swing her baby brother was in upside down so the then-three-month-old came crashing to the ground, and she once hit her sibling in the head with a candle, resulting in him needing stitches.
Fearing for the safety of her other children, Megan made the hard decision to remove her daughter from their home three years ago.
Chatting with the Daily Mail about it, the mother-of-five explained, 'Her behavior started becoming really hard to manage around age two-and-a-half, but there were signs even earlier.
'As a baby, she never slept and cried constantly. No matter what we tried, nothing helped. It always felt like something deeper was going on, even before she could talk.'
She began therapy at age three and by the time she was six she was diagnosed with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and ADHD.
'She's been on medication since age five and has been hospitalized for inpatient treatment four times,' Megan continued.
'It's been an incredibly difficult road, but everything we've done has been to help her feel safe and supported.
Megan admitted that for years, their home was consumed by 'fear and anxiety,' and that her daughter's constant outbursts were 'really hard' on her four siblings.
'She just can't handle being told to do something, and it escalates quickly. There have been times she's lashed out physically with no warning, and that kind of unpredictability is tough on everyone,' she continued.
The violence became so severe that CPS eventually got involved, leading to the youngster, then nine, moving out of their home in 2022.
'CPS told me that if I didn't take action and one of the other kids got seriously hurt, I could be charged with failure to protect,' she explained.
'That was the most painful moment of my life, but I had to make the safest choice for all of my children - including her.'
She's now living with her paternal grandparents, and Megan insisted she still talks to her 'every single day.'
'It's a more stable environment where she can get the support she needs,' she added.
'I still talk to her every single day through FaceTime and stay involved in all of her treatment, schooling, and care. She still comes to visit, but only for short stretches to keep it manageable for everyone.'
Megan has been sharing their journey on TikTok, and while many people have been extremely supportive, she has faced some backlash over her decision to 'kick' her daughter out.
'Three years ago, I kicked my mentally ill nine-year-old out of my household for the safety and wellbeing of myself, as well as her siblings,' she said in one video, which was shared back in May and has since gotten nearly 25 million views.
'One of the major things she would do, if she was in the back seat and she was irritated or if you said something to her that she didn't like, or sometimes it was just random, she would get behind my seat and cover my eyes while I'm driving down the road.
'She would attack her siblings unprovoked. One time she got in trouble and she went and flipped her three month old brother out of his swing onto the floor.
'She took the dog kennel that our puppy was in and threw it across her room. She threw a candle at the back of her brother's head and he had to get stitches.
'She hit one of her sisters in the eye with a baseball bat because she was beefing with somebody else and for whatever reason, took it out on her sister.
'I have custody of my eight-year-old niece and one day she was sleeping on the couch and my daughter walked by her and just smacked her in the face with a shoe because she was in trouble.
'I can go on and on and on about the things my daughter did to everyone but I think you guys get the point.
'So for those of you who are judging or hating on me for removing my daughter from my household, I want to know what you would have done in these situations because disciplining my child only made things worse.'
While speaking to the Daily Mail, Megan urged others to not judge her 'unless they've lived through this kind of situation.'
'I didn't give up on my child. I made the hardest decision of my life to protect everyone, including her,' she insisted.
'Love sometimes means making impossible choices, and this was one of them.'
She added that she hopes by sharing their story she can help 'bring awareness to childhood mental health.'
'People are quick to assume a kid's behavior must come from trauma, but sometimes it's just a chemical imbalance,' she said.
'That's not something parents can love away or discipline out of a child.'
And while she's gotten some negative comments, she insisted that the positive messages have far outweighed the haters.
'Honestly, I've been blown away by the response. So many moms have messaged me saying they're going through the same thing and thought they were the only one,' she revealed.
'That's why I keep talking about it. We need more honesty and less shame around this.'
Now, Megan is raising money through GoFundMe so her daughter, now 12, can get an 'in-depth SPECT brain scan' that will look at how her brain functions.
'These evaluations could give us real answers and help us figure out the best treatment moving forward. She deserves every chance at a better future,' Megan said.
In the end, she said she believes her daughter is not a bad person, but simply a 'hurting kid,' and insisted that she has not given up on her.
'After an outburst, she'll sometimes feel really bad. She'll say she wants to be better and that she doesn't understand why she loses control,' shared the mother.
'I truly believe she doesn't want to hurt anyone. She just doesn't have the ability to regulate herself when she's in that heightened state. We're working hard to give her the tools to manage it.'