I title this post “Destroying Success” for a simple fact.
David has been in facility based care before. He has been discharged from such a care to home three times out of the 5 placements he has had. Each time home has resulted in behaviors so volatile that he experiences frequent trips to the mental health unit at the hospital in the city, frequent visits by law enforcement and many trips to safe bed.
By volatile, I mean violent aggressive behaviors, not to mention stealing, forging and other activities like trying to kill pets.
So he transitioned to his current placement in late June of this year.
He is successful. He is always successful in placement. Sure he has rough periods, but what teen doesn’t? Heck, I would wonder what was wrong if he didn’t have rough periods. So why would you destroy the safe world that he is in right now by sending him home?
I get least restrictive environment. Believe me, I know what the phrase means. When it comes to the success or failure of his life experience, I would much rather see him be successful. Right now success occurs in care.
Today we were told that since the goal of the new placement is reunification, that if we didn’t bring him home for passes and visits, then they would just discharge him. Passes and visits aren’t the issue here, the issue is two fold.
If he gets violent. What do we do? The only people he regularly attacks are family. We call law enforcement. Sure. Great. If they are on the other side of the county it can take them an hour to respond.
So they say we can bring him back early, if we have difficulty or he misbehaves. Right?! because transporting an angry, upset and hurt child 60 miles is a good idea? Hey, lets get law enforcement to do it. Because they are mental health professionals – right?!
I know. I am making excuses.
The other issue. David knows exactly what he has to do to get out of care. How can they not see that? He was discharged 18 months ago from a facility against doctors orders because insurance and medicaid wouldn’t cover.
I get that he isn’t exhibiting behaviors, and really, I am quite happy that he is doing so well. But please, for his sake, don’t sabotage that.
In fairness to David, we, meaning both at home, and him in the facility, really need to work on our communication skills.
So we are going to try.
We will bring him home on pass. Please pray that he continues to be successful. Because in the end, all I want is for him to be able to live a happy well rounded life that is generally trouble free. Don’t be destroying success because he doesn’t fit your mold of what should be in your facility. I don’t know that this is what staff are doing, but he really hasn’t been there long enough to get an idea of who David really is. Right now he allows them to see what they need to see. Hear what they need to hear.
