Well, not quite what I hoped for...
Not everyone who was invited was in attendance. The school sent a letter. The psychiatrist and psychiatric hospital rep were complete no-shows. So the meeting was caseworker, therapist, and husband and I.
husband was great! Very firm. Told them he was worried for the safety of his family and that difficult child needed more help than we could provide. He made it clear that we were looking to get difficult child into structure structure structure.
therapist emphasized that outpatient therapy was not working. Her recommendation was a residential placement. She felt it was difficult child's only real shot at quality help.
The caseworker, who has only been on the job for a few months, seemed completely overwhelmed. In regards to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) placement, she wasn't really authorized to offer that. She explained that she was supposed to set up other kinds of support and if that failed THEN they would consider Residential Treatment Center (RTC) placement.
So - OK then....what did she have to offer?
Well, not much...
I had typed up a bulleted list of current problems in order of importance. So raging was #1, seeking out dangerous situations was #2....all the way down to not doing chores at #15. The caseworker went down the list saying "Well, we can't really help that....that's not what we do...this should be handled in therapy..." etc
In the end, the caseworker has offered a Behavioral Managment person. He or she will come out to the house for a few hours a week and help us implement a behavior chart.
Are you kidding me? What about all the behavior charts that have been tried and failed one after the other after the other after the other?
And when the caseworker asked us what should be the goals of the BMP? - I said, referring to our bulleted list - raging, revenge-seeking and dangerous behaviors are our number one concern. The caseworker had to admit that a BMP could not address that - nor could it address the health and hygiene issues - nor could it address medication compliance. BUT - the person could make sure that difficult child did her homework and performed chores around the house.
Well, great.
The caseworker explained that in order to qualify for placement, they would need evidence that difficult child was a danger to self or others. I pulled out police reports, copies of difficult child's instant messages where she says her Mom should be poisoned, records from the psychiatric hospital where difficult child expressed hatred toward all of her family members.
Caseworker was clearly frustrated. She explained that she did not have the authorization to place difficult child at this point.
So a Behavioral Management person was on the table....and that's it.
We said "We'll take it"
BUT
We requested a meeting with caseworker's supervisor
AND we requested that the caseworker or supervisor place a call to the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) we applied to last year (which accepts Medicaid and additional fees from parents are on a sliding scale). Last year, the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) rejected us - but perhaps with a call from somebody with a lot of letters after their name....difficult child might get a spot.
So...now we wait and see...
Not everyone who was invited was in attendance. The school sent a letter. The psychiatrist and psychiatric hospital rep were complete no-shows. So the meeting was caseworker, therapist, and husband and I.
husband was great! Very firm. Told them he was worried for the safety of his family and that difficult child needed more help than we could provide. He made it clear that we were looking to get difficult child into structure structure structure.
therapist emphasized that outpatient therapy was not working. Her recommendation was a residential placement. She felt it was difficult child's only real shot at quality help.
The caseworker, who has only been on the job for a few months, seemed completely overwhelmed. In regards to Residential Treatment Center (RTC) placement, she wasn't really authorized to offer that. She explained that she was supposed to set up other kinds of support and if that failed THEN they would consider Residential Treatment Center (RTC) placement.
So - OK then....what did she have to offer?
Well, not much...
I had typed up a bulleted list of current problems in order of importance. So raging was #1, seeking out dangerous situations was #2....all the way down to not doing chores at #15. The caseworker went down the list saying "Well, we can't really help that....that's not what we do...this should be handled in therapy..." etc
In the end, the caseworker has offered a Behavioral Managment person. He or she will come out to the house for a few hours a week and help us implement a behavior chart.
Are you kidding me? What about all the behavior charts that have been tried and failed one after the other after the other after the other?
And when the caseworker asked us what should be the goals of the BMP? - I said, referring to our bulleted list - raging, revenge-seeking and dangerous behaviors are our number one concern. The caseworker had to admit that a BMP could not address that - nor could it address the health and hygiene issues - nor could it address medication compliance. BUT - the person could make sure that difficult child did her homework and performed chores around the house.
Well, great.
The caseworker explained that in order to qualify for placement, they would need evidence that difficult child was a danger to self or others. I pulled out police reports, copies of difficult child's instant messages where she says her Mom should be poisoned, records from the psychiatric hospital where difficult child expressed hatred toward all of her family members.
Caseworker was clearly frustrated. She explained that she did not have the authorization to place difficult child at this point.
So a Behavioral Management person was on the table....and that's it.
We said "We'll take it"
BUT
We requested a meeting with caseworker's supervisor
AND we requested that the caseworker or supervisor place a call to the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) we applied to last year (which accepts Medicaid and additional fees from parents are on a sliding scale). Last year, the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) rejected us - but perhaps with a call from somebody with a lot of letters after their name....difficult child might get a spot.
So...now we wait and see...