Maust was confined in a mental institution at the age of nine at the request of his mother. His mother claimed he set fire to his younger brother's bed, and later tried to drown him. However, his mother was described by a social worker as "disturbed," "psychotic," "functioning marginally," "needy," and "narcissistic." She had spent a month in a mental hospital in Pennsylvania. A later report on Maust said that the institution where he was confined was filled with children who were there more often than not because family members were mentally ill and couldn't, or wouldn't, take care of them. At the institution it was felt that Maust's mother simply "dumped" him there.