Hello-
Haven't been on the boards in a while...My bipolar etc. son has been in residential since February (after a really traumatic suicide attempt and many years of hospitalizations and other Residential Treatment Center (RTC) stays) and will be discharged upon graduation (probably next spring). Now that he is 18 (since May) it has been difficult to keep him there but this week he is committed to staying until he graduates.
The staff at the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) is going to help him apply for disability and they are working with someone at our local county mental health department to get him set up for services.
My husband and I are going back and forth about whether he should come home or live independently. We agree that he would probably do better living on his own (he is too comfortable here-doesn't follow our simple house rules on home passes) but my husband would feel better knowing our son was OK, etc. So we are looking at our options...our son is tired of living in a group home situation (he is not patient with other people to put it basically) and would like to live at home. We can't afford to support him living independently and I doubt that if he qualifies for disability (which the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) seems to think wont be a problem) that he will have enough money to live in an apartment in this area. Housing is very impacted and cost of living is high (Bay area).
If he lives at home, will he still be able to get benefits? I tried to call Social Security but was on hold forever. And would it be disability or SSI? Still a little confused about the difference. Is there any way to calculate how much he would receive so we could find out if he could actually live somewhere else other than home? Sorry for so many questions-I'm just trying to plan for the future as we are also having to file for bankruptcy due to medical bills for both my son and husband and an extended period of unemployment. Our lawyer wants us to estimate how much we will need to contribute to our son's living expenses and needs some kind of proof/estimate and I have no idea where to start.
Thank you if you read all this-any advice or information is appreciated!
Tory
Son 18 Bipolar/ODD/ADHD/Schizoaffective?
Haven't been on the boards in a while...My bipolar etc. son has been in residential since February (after a really traumatic suicide attempt and many years of hospitalizations and other Residential Treatment Center (RTC) stays) and will be discharged upon graduation (probably next spring). Now that he is 18 (since May) it has been difficult to keep him there but this week he is committed to staying until he graduates.
The staff at the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) is going to help him apply for disability and they are working with someone at our local county mental health department to get him set up for services.
My husband and I are going back and forth about whether he should come home or live independently. We agree that he would probably do better living on his own (he is too comfortable here-doesn't follow our simple house rules on home passes) but my husband would feel better knowing our son was OK, etc. So we are looking at our options...our son is tired of living in a group home situation (he is not patient with other people to put it basically) and would like to live at home. We can't afford to support him living independently and I doubt that if he qualifies for disability (which the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) seems to think wont be a problem) that he will have enough money to live in an apartment in this area. Housing is very impacted and cost of living is high (Bay area).
If he lives at home, will he still be able to get benefits? I tried to call Social Security but was on hold forever. And would it be disability or SSI? Still a little confused about the difference. Is there any way to calculate how much he would receive so we could find out if he could actually live somewhere else other than home? Sorry for so many questions-I'm just trying to plan for the future as we are also having to file for bankruptcy due to medical bills for both my son and husband and an extended period of unemployment. Our lawyer wants us to estimate how much we will need to contribute to our son's living expenses and needs some kind of proof/estimate and I have no idea where to start.
Thank you if you read all this-any advice or information is appreciated!
Tory
Son 18 Bipolar/ODD/ADHD/Schizoaffective?