concerned

I have a question..a friend of mine spoke to me and asked me a question and i really was unsure how to answer because i don't know much about schizophrenia...her sister decided to take in her aunt who has schizophrenia..her aunt has been in and out of work, moving from homeless shelters, and her other family have tried to help out in the past but supposedly their was issues with taking over the household and some things ended up missing, including money, so her family had kicked her out..her aunt i guess it sounds like, did not stay on her meds..now my friend's sister has 3 kids, one who has been diagnosed with autism....my friend's question was "is it safe to have a diagnosed, unstabe schizoprenia living with you, and trust her to be with the children alone?  I personallly would say no...but i also dont' know much about the illness...it just seems to be that her aunt starts getting her life together then, boom...she gets sneaky and untrusting...

[ILADVOCATE]

I would say that she should be encouraged to see a psychiatrist. For a person with a psychiatric disability there is also SSI and supported housing. I myself have made a full recovery from schizoaffective disorder (read through my posts) but I was not rational before treatment and I did need help. She should be encouraged to see a psychiatrist as a positive thing because it will help with her recovery because it will. As for SSI and supported housing she could get information at her local independent living center. There's one in every county of every state. Here's a list:
http://www.ilru.org/html/publications/directory/index.html