Your view AGBM of reality is based on the small area you have to relate to around you . The wonderful thing about this forum is you get a glimpse of the outside world .
From the experiences shared here you should be able to get a better, more rounded out version of what really happens when people leave the JWs .We have always been taught the WT version that once a person leaves they are just going to go crazy wild and live a debauched existence . Which hopefully, you can lower the blinders and see that is really not the case .
We have only our own experiences to go on ,and maybe you have seen the worst happen to some that become df'd . Just realize that is not always the only course taken by individuals that leave .
Let me share some local examples I have witnessed :
1) My younger brother in law was DF'd for smoking .He left home at 18, made it on his own w/o any help from family . Today he is a hard worker married with three small children ,a devoted father and husband . Lives a quite modest family life .
2) My own brother was DA'd @ 18 for joining the military . He servd in two branches of the military over 8 yrs. got out put himself through college and became a civil engineer . He has a great family totally devoted to his daughter has coached every sport she was in as a child and is now seeing her excel in college on her way to becoming a teacher . He and his wife are community oriented have great friends and are very happy .
3) My husbands sister got pregnant @16 left home, moved across the country ,worked ,put herself through school and college .(Again with out family support ) She went on to get married ,raise three children, and making a living doing something she loves . Maybe she didn't live a life the witnesses would approve of ,but she is happy ,and a productive member of the community .
4) Another family member was in a horrible marriage to a witness that just criticized him all the time .He was depressed and finally separated from her . He was DF'd when he finally moved in with another woman . Today he is married to that woman has a good job and is the most happiest I have ever seen him .
These are just a few that I personally know of because they were related . Even the ones I know of in the congregation that became df'd and left none of them became the dregs of society you suggest they may have become .
I am sure some will not turn out well , but that is just a human thing not because they left being a JW .