Wow- you ladies have really given thought out responses. Thank you!
The process isn't too far along yet though- I know I won't be making the choice of "which" he facility he goes to, no matter what type it is. All I can do is advocate for a particular type. I should point out that it appears to me (no person in CSU is completely honest with a parent) that the only reason they are even considering my input at this point is because the ultimate goal of any agency is to get the kid back in the home. I have told them that there are certain things that have to change and happen before difficult child will be allowed to live with me again, if ever. If I told them flat out that he'd never be allowed to live with me, that would be an automatic "have to go to court" situation.
This new PO heard my big beef about difficult child getting sommitted to Department of Juvenile Justice instead of getting Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and mentioned he might be able to request that- but that's all he can do, supposedly. But as he explained and this does add up, the only way to build that case and have a chance is to go back into all the psychiatrist/tedoc trial and error, it doesn't work BS. The first thing is to establish that difficult child has a diagnosis in need of treatment. This is where it really gets sticky. Of course the private and state psychiatrists gave difficult child a diagnosis of a mood disorder and/or adjustment disorder. That had been in question if it was truly bipolar or something else. When difficult child was in Department of Juvenile Justice the first time, I asked that Department of Juvenile Justice psychiatrist to evaluate if difficult child really needed to be on MSs and if he thought it was truly bipolar. He weaned difficult child off MSs and difficult child did fine so the bipolar diagnosis was removed. Department of Juvenile Justice in their infinite wisdom concluded that this meant difficult child had no diagnosis.
To make matters worse, when difficult child re-offended in my care last summer and was put in detention to await trial, the defense attny asked the SW/therapist at detention to give difficult child a MH evaluation. This was stupid but his defense attny never listened to me anyway. The reason it was stupid is because tdocs assigned to detention centers only see the court record, ie, the charges and worst behavior and never really consider anythi9ng else. This is the same therapist who refused to sign the MH order for difficult child to go to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) even tho a state psychiatrist had ordered it BECAUSE the PO at the time told her not to. So difficult child didn't get Residential Treatment Center (RTC). Plus the gal told the judge that the state psychiatrists couldn't even agree on diagnosis. The qquestion was which type of mood disorder, not that there wasn't a diagnosis at all. The therapist in detention who gave the last evaluation- last year- concluded the only problem with difficult child was conduct disorder and the biggest problem "she saw was that he was relating too much to the worst kids in Department of Juvenile Justice and identified with them and would probably always have difficulty living outside a setting like that". Well that wwas exactly why state psychiatrist had said Residential Treatment Center (RTC) would be difficult child's best hope for rehabilitation and that Department of Juvenile Justice could do him in and make him worse. That therapist from detention knew that because she was in on the conference calls of that treatment team.
Anyway, so she gave difficult child no diagnosis and just labeled him CD. He went into Department of Juvenile Justice processing with that so their MH evaluation just says the same. This PO is saying we'd have to figure out a way to get difficult child evaluation'd by a psychiatrist again. UNLESS the letter from state psychiatrist 2+ years ago is not too old to use. But it probably is since Department of Juvenile Justice and last jurisdiction's detention therapist says difficult child is only CD. So problem #1 is how to get difficult child an evaluation by someone other than a Department of Juvenile Justice psychiatrist who'll most certainly go with these lastest two in the same system without waiting until difficult child is released and in my "authority" when I can take him on my own. Problem #2 is whether or not that evaluation, assuming we ccan get one without difficult child having to live with me first, will say that difficult child needs to be in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) without difficult child doing something so extreme first that we are right back where we started- if difficult child does something that extreme, he goes back to Department of Juvenile Justice not Residential Treatment Center (RTC). It's a catch 22. That woman probation officer used to have just royally sc**ed difficult child's future. And I know she hated me but there was more to it than that- she tried to order me not to have difficult child evaluation'd by the state expert to begin with. Then she told me she was fighting difficult child going to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) because "if she thought he'd needed it, she would have ordered it".
\Soooo, Residential Treatment Center (RTC) is more than a long shot. Even if I get this PO to think this thru enough to realize and admit that taking a route that requires difficult child to mess up again will surely land him back in Department of Juvenile Justice, not Residential Treatment Center (RTC), the people higher up than him won't go along with difficult child going straight to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) without some current justification. I have a feeling that would be the people in this Department of Juvenile Justice facility saying difficult child needs it- that they can't rehabilitate him. The only time I've heard of them doing that was when there was extreme Learning Disability (LD) and/ schizophrenia involved and then once when it was a young teen who had raped a young child (apparently he'd been sexually abused as a youngster) or he had sex with an animal or something like that. The Residential Treatment Center (RTC) sent that kid back to Department of Juvenile Justice after about 6 mos.
What seems to be pulling a lot of weight is that obviously, it can be proven what difficult child did to me if they ever find his file with the details. And that I have told them that I've had more than one MH prof tell me not to let difficult child come back to live with me until some of these issues he has and we have (relational) get worked out. But of course, I don't have that in writing either and can't get it in writing at this point. But what idiot wouldn't conclude that- besides the people in CSU. To add to this- if I'm not careful this could end up with me getting a court order to bring difficult child home upon release, take him to evaluation, get him a psychiatrist, do intensive in-home, etc- which is exactly where we started. See, POs dig for information from the parent only to order the parent to figure out how to get it all done then the parent is noncompliant if they can't make it all work and still keep the kid supervised and work enough to provide everything the kid needs. Round and round we go.
Think about how much investigation it would take to pull together a case that difficult child was shafted when he was sent to Department of Juvenile Justice instead of Residential Treatment Center (RTC)- not that I'm not confident that it could be proven if someone actually did interview gal, psychiatrist, therapist from deetention, etc, just that it would cost me a lot more money than I have to hire a private attny to do it and the advocacy type attnys won't touch it- I tried. And we don';t have pro bono attnys willing to take the system on around here- there's nothing in it. We live in a state where government agencies/employees can't be held liable for decisions like this and it's too late to appeal- appealing is a waste anyway because you still get a gal who is newly licensed and cares more about fitting in with the other CSU people. So basicly, in order for this to have a good chance- I'd have to be able to afford to pay someone to prove that the previous jurisdiction was wrong and that Department of Juvenile Justice "owed" difficult child a placement in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC). And I can't afford it. I even wrote Dr. Phil once and never got a response. I'll keep saying the same things to PO, but I'm not holding my breath.
He did admit that POs were starting to see more and more that kids who had been committed as young teens were intentionally keeping themselves in the system and "there's a problem with it". Yeah- well stop blaming the parents in order to justify just ordering them to do more and wake up- the kid needed more than Department of Juvenile Justice to begin with. But instead of sepending their funding on programs that are really needed, they spend it on tons of inexperienced POs and GALs and attnys. How stupid. They could take the same amount of money, hire a few experienced profs for CSU and spend the rest on programs that really do give the kid a chance. But no- then they have no way to "train" the attnys in this state. This is the infinite wisdom of the legislators in this state- you know- the experienced attnys.
