There is nothing else I can do...

Today at 1:16pm, I found out how hard the world of youth work can be. The client whom I work 4 nights a week with whom we shall call 'Scott' is 17 and was in a residential care placement for the last months. Scott was a one step forward, two steps back kind of client. He smoked weed everyday and smoked quite a few of my cigarettes when I was on shift. The potential for him to go far in life was there for his taking, but this was one that he wished not to touch. He fooled us by talking about how he wanted to do tafe courses, go back to school, get a job etc but when we organised all of this, he never once came through.
There were times of which we all thought we were making progress with him. infact there a couple of periods of 2 weeks when he wouldn't smoke pot or stay at the placement rather then go out Thursday night and return Monday. We then realised that this only ever happened when he lost his phone and wasnt able to get into contact with his friends. Slowly we began to lose hope in Scott because he was only going to be in care for one more year then he was free to discover the world, but wasn't taking advantage of his situation, well not in the way we wanted to.
On Monday night I posted on facebook, "Andrew Vandenberg is fighting the toughest battle of youth work, doing everything you possibly can for a client and getting now where, yet still believing that they can change. At that point I didn't think that Scott was a lost cause. That was until 1:16pm this afternoon.
I recieved a phone call from work informing me that they are shutting down Scott's placement effective immediately. I tried calling Scott to inform him as to what was going on but as usual his phone was turned off. So somewhere in Craigmore is a 17 year old boy getting stoned with his friends not knowing that he is now homeless because a group of office workers have lost hope in him. I think it's pathetic and heart breaking. It frustrates me because it feels like all of the hard work that we have put in to Scott has now gone to waste. He is 17 and was a tough client to get through to, but we connected with him on his level. I remember telling him that I will always do everything I can to help him, even when he is in the wrong. In fact I promised him this. But not, there is nothing else I can do.
I just hope that Scott remembers everything that the other carers and myself have told him and put it to good use, other wise I don't believe there will be any hope for him. Now is the time to change. I wish Scott all the best. For now I shall still here, smoke a cigarette and feel the pain as a youth worker whom feels like he just lost the battle for his client...