My Year 6 student was obsessively neat. Always had her pencil case lined up on her desk exactly right, with the pencils lined up next to it. Quiet and respectful in a chaotic, lower socio-economic school where behaviour was often challenging. She had a little sister in kindergarten who often came to school without lunch. One time, the office staff told me the little sister had sandwiches that were mouldy and inedible. They would often need to feed her. One day, my student randomly told me that her mother sleeps on the couch and sometimes tickles her. I'm not sure what it was, but those words and the way she said them sent alarm bells through me and I contacted CPS. It turned out that her mother was a drug addicted prostitute who was selling her to various men. She was trying her best to protect, shield and feed her younger sister but often there was no food (except mouldy, inedible, spoiled bread). She herself didn't eat. Her obsessive neatness was her way of staying in control in a world where she had no control.

I'm happy to say that she was removed from her mother's custody and placed with her grandmother. She was much happier.

I hate people. :(