I just had a heart to heart with Foster Care Specialist.
We both put all our thoughts on the table with what should happen with Older Boy.
My agency thinks I have put up with more than enough behaviors and haven't given up or stopped fighting for him. They would like to preserve the placment if at all possible until he can get the help he needs. The problem is that we don't know the timeframe. We have no idea what it means if we say we'll preserve.
Together we agreed to the following:
Older Boy will go to respite every weekend while he remains in my home. He will leave on Friday night and come back on Sunday evening. This might not happen this weekend, but it might. The hope for this is that it will give me a break from the behaviors enough to handle the weekdays. None of this respite will count toward my total days for the year.
There will be a family support specialist in my home Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening from 6PM to 9PM. This person will be responsible for managing Older Boy and his behaviors. This person will come from Service Coordinator's agency, so I am not going to hold my breath until it happens.
We will document for the hearing on October 26th that we are in placement preservation at this time until a higher level of care is found, but we will determine a deadline for the placement preservation to end prior to the court hearing.
We are going to assess every two weeks to determine if the services we need to be getting are being received.
This decision was NOT made lightly. Most of the time placement preservation is done to maintain attachment in placements. This is NOT the case here. Older Boy has not attached to anyone except maybe Younger Boy and even then it is questionable. This preservation is solely for the purpose of holding on to hope that he can get the help he needs. It is to keep him from going to multiple homes or an emergency shelter or the psychiatric hospital before he gets into a group home.
My heart is breaking...for many reasons.
Prayers that this is the right thing for everyone involved.
We both put all our thoughts on the table with what should happen with Older Boy.
My agency thinks I have put up with more than enough behaviors and haven't given up or stopped fighting for him. They would like to preserve the placment if at all possible until he can get the help he needs. The problem is that we don't know the timeframe. We have no idea what it means if we say we'll preserve.
Together we agreed to the following:
Older Boy will go to respite every weekend while he remains in my home. He will leave on Friday night and come back on Sunday evening. This might not happen this weekend, but it might. The hope for this is that it will give me a break from the behaviors enough to handle the weekdays. None of this respite will count toward my total days for the year.
There will be a family support specialist in my home Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening from 6PM to 9PM. This person will be responsible for managing Older Boy and his behaviors. This person will come from Service Coordinator's agency, so I am not going to hold my breath until it happens.
We will document for the hearing on October 26th that we are in placement preservation at this time until a higher level of care is found, but we will determine a deadline for the placement preservation to end prior to the court hearing.
We are going to assess every two weeks to determine if the services we need to be getting are being received.
This decision was NOT made lightly. Most of the time placement preservation is done to maintain attachment in placements. This is NOT the case here. Older Boy has not attached to anyone except maybe Younger Boy and even then it is questionable. This preservation is solely for the purpose of holding on to hope that he can get the help he needs. It is to keep him from going to multiple homes or an emergency shelter or the psychiatric hospital before he gets into a group home.
My heart is breaking...for many reasons.
Prayers that this is the right thing for everyone involved.
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