They've Seen Too Much To Be Called Children

Antwan was crying in the hallway. I asked him what was wrong and he was really reluctant to tell me, so I told him to come sit down in my room. I gave him some juice and the whole thing spilled out. He was upset because he had said some really horrible things to his mother that he didn't actually mean.
He then told me that his 18 yr old brother comes home drunk all the time and beats up his mother. Last night, the mother was trying to call the cops and the brother threw all the phones on the roof. After the brother leaves, Antwan's mother is so frustrated with the situation that she yells at him about petty things. He gets upset and says mean things to her. She screams at him some more. Antwan is supposed to come to school and pay attention in math?

Eric is probably one of the smartest kids I know. Last year, I had serious respect for him because he was not violent and he acted very mature when dealing with 6th grade situations. (He steered clear of the "He took my pencil/She hit my arm/He touched my foot" arguments) Now he's in a gang for "protection." He told me that's how he gets respect. I ended up talking to him for about an hour today about how much he's changed from last year. Now he is getting people to beat up some girls that are talking about his girlfriend. He thinks everything is solved by a fight and that he will never ever lose a fight. He has that teenager mentality that nothing will ever happen to him.
Well, as it usually happens when these kids have someone to sit down and listen to them for a minute, another teacher and I heard a lot about his life today. He has lived with his grandmother since he was 2 years old because his mother is an addict. Right now, his mother is in the hospital and she might die, but no one will take him to see her or tell him what happened. His grandmother is incredibly strict, but he has a hard time understanding that she does it because she loves him. NONE of his friends have that kind of supervision. He has no idea who his father is. He really feels like no one cares for him or has any interest in his life.
It's becoming harder and harder to deal with the fact that I can't make everything okay.