Fighting for Answers | Author Archives | Page 95David's Father, Author at Fighting for Answers

a new year, more medicaid frustration

So what else is new? right? Received this notice from the facility where our son resides. I am sure you will be receiving a hard copy in the mail, but I wanted to notify you that as of 1/10/2015, David’s Medicaid has denied coverage for residential care and we were notified of this yesterday. (See attached letter) Facility is currently in the process of appealing this decision. I will keep you notified of the results of the appeal process which will be submitted early next week. They enclosed a copy of the notice that they received from the determination company that is under contract to our state Medicaid. The rationale for this decision is: David is a 13 year old boy who is diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and pervasive development disorder. He was in a residential setting in North Dakota for over a year and transferred to the

You can “Get Your Joy Back”

My friends. As many of my readers know, over the past 4 years, we have struggled with getting our son the services that he needs. Initially this began as a struggle with our local education authority. Gradually, it transitioned to psychiatric residential treatment facilities. Constantly being aware of the needs of our children, being ever vigilant of their every move, mood change, or behaviour can be taxing on any parent. After all, we are not able to run our homes like the facilities we find ourselves placing our children in for care. It strains family relationships, marriages, the childhood of siblings and so many other facets of our lives. A short time ago, I was humbled to receive an advance copy of the book “Get Your Joy Back” by Laurie Wallin. The book is like a roadmap for the beginning stages of mental health. I read it the first time

Generalizations, how they don’t help

We have this saying in the Autism community. “If you have seen a child with Autism, you have seen A child with Autism.” You have seen one child. Why one? Because no two kids are exactly alike, including twins. So why would it be any different for an adopted child? David is adopted. David has, among other things, Reactive Attachment Disorder. I am adopted, I can see similarities in my behaviors as a child to David, just not as severe. I know of a couple of other people, both children and adults, who are adopted. You know what? Unless you know that they are adopted, you can’t tell. It isn’t like they have this tattoo on their arm, like a bar code or something that says “adopted”. Why do I bring this up? If you have seen one child that is adopted, one person that is adopted, you have see