Spoke with- Attny

[klmno]

She said she spoke with PO but apparently she spoke with him before getting the stuff I dropped off to her yesterday. Anyway, she said PO thought they could get difficult child into group home where he had a better chance is sd and academically. Then she wondered why I wasn't happy that this was the only answer she had. Well, I thought she was then going to ask about why a long term GH was jumped to as a placement when I expressed concerns about difficult child coming straight home. She said that GH was a shorter term and she knew it was. Yeah- and that's exactly what PO had me buying into, too. I had also checked and am aware that GH does and can give difficult child a short term placement, hhowever, when I talked to re-entry lady, she made it clear that no matter which GH difficult child went to, she had him in long term program due to the fed funding she was getting for him. I told attny that I was concerned she was buying into the same story I did from PO, only to find out from re-entry lady this isn't the plan she had at all. Re-entry lady had told me that difficult child would be in there probably 8 mos and their goal is to get him out on his own.

This isn't even addressing the fact the the PO's super told me a couple of weeks ago that the video-conference was being set up so they could talk to difficult child and they might change the recommendation for GH altogether at that point. And- PO told attny that no call had been rec'd from Department of Juvenile Justice regarding a possible early release. I'll call them now.

Attny is now going to call PO back and see if she can talk to re-entry lady directly or on conference call with PO.

 

[DDD]

Does the Attorney get the basic question to ask? "Does my client understand correctly that the only two choices for her son are (1) immediate placement in her home or (2) long term GH placement with independent living as the goal? Is it possible for my client to be assured that short term placement could be mandated with reunification as the goal?"

It doesn't sound like rocket science to me. When I supported my family in commision sales the big term was KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. I thought it sounded rude and kinda funny but that's what the Attorney needs to do. Ask simple direct questions and then report the responses to her Client..you.
Sorry it's so difficult, klmno, for you to just find the answers. Hugs. DDD

 

[exhausted]

Holy cow! Does anyone there know what the he_ _ their talking about? Do they talk to each other? Lawyer needs to talk to re-entry lady for sure. Everyone needs to be on the same page with the same story- on one side or the other or the loudest person will win despite your boys needs. Didn't lawyer hear you? You said what you wanted and that the stories were changing from person to person and time to time. First clue she needs to dig and speak to as many people as possible. Ask her to read the stuff you sent. Make her work for every dime. Her job is to represent your interests for your boy's! So sorry! Aways confussion!

 

[klmno]

I hope she gets that- I don't really want to call her back again to make that point while she's apparently working on talking with PO and re-entry lady. I have thought about calling her back though, to tell her that difficult child can come back to live with me if po's orders are kept "KISS", however, this seems to be where the trouble starts with po- they don't like a parent saying things like that and it seems to instigate responses like "we'll order whatever we want to and it will be csu's idea, not parent's idea".

I'm just grateful that an attny is starting to get invovled and hear some of the things I've been hearing- ie, PO presents it one way; provider of services has a different story.

 

[klmno]

I called attny back to try to make sure some of this was absolutely clear before she spoke with anyone else, including that IF the only two things being considered are the long term or coming home (and that's my understanding), then I want difficult child coming home, even though I know it's not my decision and I know that's potentially going to have it's own set of problems, I'll just have to deal with that as they come up. Also, I wanted to make sure she remembered that the whole reason the VC was set up with difficult child next week was because they hadn't cast the parole plan in stone yet, at least that's what i was told. So, if it has been cast in stone, then why are we going thru this? Also, I told her that sending difficult child home with a 20-something mentor talking to difficult child about "it's not right to hit your m,other" and that being their idea for addressing domestic violence seemed so absurd to me that I don't know if they are doing that just to force my hand or get me to buy into the GH idea or what, but I would hope if difficult child comes to live with me, ordered services would be reasonable and feasible and simple enough to be doable.

She said she understood and couldn't gaurantee anything but would try to talk to these people and get somewhere with it before Christmas.

I'm with you on this one, DDD. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't seem to be the strong point in this state's juvie CSU. I did have a light bulb moment a couple of days ago though. I'll see if I can articulate it well enough to post about sometime in the near future.

 

[DDD]

I'm glad you called her back now instead of waiting. Now you don't have to be concerned that she has missed the point. As always I am keeping my fingers crossed. on the other hand I'll really be surprised if anything is resolved before the holiday because of the pre-Christmas hype.

How's your dental problem? Been thinking about that and haven't noticed an update. DDD

 

[buddy]

with a 20-something mentor talking to difficult child about "it's not right to hit your m,other" and that being their idea for addressing domestic violence seemed so absurd to me

Is it possible to just forget about who they are planning to have mentor him for now? Can you get what you want in placement first then if you don tlike the mentor choice fight it once they can't ruin the placement??? I doubt the mentor choice will be cast in stone like the other stuff is. Just curious?

 

[klmno]

thank you! I'm staying medicated since it's getting better but it's happening slower than I'd hoped. A lot slower.

We really won't have closure on this until next week, after the VC with difficult child. But in all honesty, they seem pretty hooked on this re-entry lady and I really do believe they are just giving lip service on the rest of it. I know they could order short-term placement with reunification being the goal. They are claiming that they'll leave that up to re-entry lady. Uh Uh. Re-entry lady says long term. Why? According to what I found, the funding for short term with re-unification is availavlbe but she is selling this on the long term funding plan because she already has that program approved by fed gov. Never mind that it's a diversion program with the name "reentry" slapped on top of it. This is POs way of helping out re-entry lady so she can fill those spots and get the funding again next year. If they ORDERED short term, someone would have to put in all the apps and paperwork to get that funding, which they haven't done. That would be way too much trouble to spend on a kid who's been to Department of Juvenile Justice twice, right? And how bad would a local jurisdiction look if they put in for a 2nd kind of funding without getting the funded services they already have approved filled? According to attny, I can't do anything about that. I'm thinking SHE can't do anything about that and I realize i can't as far as difficult child's current situation, but this is where it turns into my "issue" to make sure other people are aware of what's really going on here and how these funds are really being manipulated just because people in CSU are too darn lazy to do what they are supposed to.

 

[klmno]

The mentor position is a low-paying, part-time job that is advertised to college students. It pretty much is a given what difficult child will get. But, I do agree that I should (and am trying) to think about one step at a time. It's just that when difficult child messes up, he messes up in such a major way that the risks are really high.

 

[DDD]

Sorry the medication isn't working fast. I'm dental phobic so believe me you have my most caring thoughts.
"One step at a time" seems like the right motto. You're a young woman with years ahead to attempt to change parts of the system. Meanwhile the next few years have to be geared solely for your family.
Hugs. DDD