What do you do when you need to balance the mental illness of one child against the wellness of a whole family? Do you allow the mentally ill and potentially very violent child to return home? Or do you push for another residential placement?
David and I are traveling six hours tomorrow to get him evaluated for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. This is a second opinion. At 15, he likely will not be able to get any services for the diagnosis. But like I have said in the past, I don’t want anyone to say we haven’t tried to do everything that we can for him. I made arrangements to pick up from the residential facility where he lives. I purposely didn’t tell him, and I told the staff that we weren’t going to tell him. He obsesses about things. So why cause him stress unnecessarily? Guess what? Someone told him what was going on tomorrow. It isn’t the end of the world for me that he knows, but you would think his world is ending. I have talked to him more since Friday than I have talked to him in the last three
I make no secret. I love to communicate with people. When it comes to David, I like to receive as much as I can via email, as it lets me have a documented record of what facilities and I see to each other. However. If my son has done something that necessitates intervention by the on-call nurse, I don’t care if you have to drill a hole to the center of the earth. I want you to call me and tell me about it. Seriously. Something like that is not what a parent should be hearing about via email. The facility is taking corrective measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Yes, I was upset. But he is okay. And frankly his safety and well-being is all that matters. Communicate people. I would rather have you tell me that you have no idea what to do next, than be kept