12:00a.m. 1st December 2008

| By Alan Lander

Browen Cafe with her daughter Crystal and her grandson Jayden,2. Photo:Barry Leddicoat/179697

A Relocation to paradise is not without risk, as Bronwen Cafe and her daughter Crystal can testify.

Many who move to the Coast undergo major personal upheaval and suffer the loss of family support.

After the departure of her husband, then Gold Coast-based Bronwen made the decision to bring the family to the Coast.

But as Crystal saw things, it was a move to help her brother avoid a downhill spiral, and the timing could not have been worse.

“It was a surprise; I didn’t know we were moving,” Crystal, then 15, said.

“I didn’t have time to say goodbye to my friends.”

The family moved to Cooroy and Bronwen had to get full-time work.

They agreed Crystal had major problems settling at school where she suffered some bullying.

“Then one day she said point blank she was not going back,” Bronwen said.

Crystal was diagnosed with depression and referred to at-risk youth support organisation United Synergies.

Through sheer bad luck, she met a boy there who was subsequently kicked out, but who introduced a needy Crystal to drug “friends” who seemed to like her.

“He is why I got kicked out of home,” Crystal said.

United Synergies found Crystal shared accommodation at one of its safe houses.

“It was difficult at first, learning how to look after myself – and they had weekly inspections,” she said.

But the relationship with Bronwen was “stretched”, as Crystal put it, and took its toll.

“I did the best I could as a parent, but what could I do?” Bronwen said.

“There was no other family here, just me.

”Counsellors explained to Bronwen why Crystal had been attracted to the boy who got her off track, and what they could do.

“I thought if I couldn’t be there for her, (at least) I could trust the people who were able to.” United Synergies staff also helped Crystal study to Year 12, supported her pregnancy and the birth of her son, and even helped secure her a rental unit.

Now she has self-esteem, is settled with a regular partner and looking forward to going to university.

“Being a mum (myself now) has opened my eyes so much.

“I’ve seen what mum went through – our relationship is so much better now.” She said she understands better now thehard choices Bronwen had to make.

“Parents have your best interests at heart – but they don’t necessarily go about things in a perfect way,” she said.

“But the world would be quite weird if we were all perfect.”