So, evidently, a majority of David’s team at the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) thinks that he is ready to come home.
Never mind the self-harming and manic episodes from last month. Never mind the negative behaviours or need for him to have a highly structured environment.
So while his Mother and I don’t think that he is ready to come home, and that his primary doesn’t think he is ready to come home, and that some of his care team that has been with him since basically the beginning of our struggles to get him services doesn’t think he is ready to come home… There is a pretty fair chance that he will be released in the next two to three weeks.
Today I was asked if there was a discharge plan in place.
HELLO?!? 
Up until last Friday we had no idea this was even on the radar!
Let me get right on that…
So their admissions office is working on an appeal, and we are working on an appeal, I need to also coordinate a return to public school, a restructuring of our home to accommodate his needs. Not to mention the needs of our other two boys who are also on the Autism Spectrum. How will moving David home affect the dynamics that exist with them?
Don’t get me wrong, I love David dearly, but there is a bigger picture to all of this than just David.
So, tomorrow, I will talk with our advocate. I will talk with our Care Coordinator. I will talk with the our school to start that process.
In the last two months, we have had numerous phone calls with therapists, with his psych team, with his primary staff, with cottage staff, with the nursing team, and no one said that they were looking at a January discharge date. David said that they were, and we discounted that as wishful thinking on his part.
What happens if the school says that they won’t accept him? Sure, they have to provide him an education, but in the past, they have turned him away. What happens if he decides to cut one of us instead of himself? Sure there are a lot of what ifs… But we know David. I don’t see this as a good thing for him. To move from a highly structured environment directly home with no step-down or transition facility in between is a recipe for disaster. There is no way we can replicate the structured environment of the PRTF in our home without 24/7 help, and I really don’t see that happening.
In the end, it boils down to one very simple question. What is best for David?
