am I being unrealistic?

[amazeofgrace]

So my youngest son (15) was admitted to long term residential a week & a half ago. Since then he has been bullied, had toe surgery, still has not gotten the antibiotics from the toe surgery and punched a wall and hurt his hand, but they insist it doesn't need to be x-rayed. Oh and it took me a whole lot of screaming to finally have someone tell him when he could do his laundry.

When I went for my 1st visit I was put off by the unruliness of the boys in the unit and the staffs lack of response. I mean, I get it, it's a psychiatric ward, full of adolescent boys, but the staff (who's only requirement is that they have a hs diploma and complete on site training) are very young and do not strike me as clinical or professional. Quit ethe opposite, they look like friends my difficult child II made in rehab!

Am I being over sensitive, I mean I am uber worried about difficult child II because he is VERY sensitive. I spoke with the social worker and the unit supervisor about the bullying and they are "addressing" it.

sigh.....

 

[TeDo]

Sounds like you need to don the armor again. That is NOT right! He is there for the therapeutic setting with supervision thrown in. He's not there to warehouse until he turns 18. What is happening there is NOT going to make him better or teach him better, it's going to make him worse! You need to get him into a different placement if at all humanly possible. I would be worried too. Document. Document. Document EVERYTHING. Names, dates, issues, responses, EVERYTHING.

{{{{(((HUGS)))}}}}

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Let me start by saying I have no personal experience with rtcs, but this doesn't sound right to me. I agree with TeDo, sounds like a holding pen for the boys. Were I you, I would address my concerns pronto. Is this a public or a private facility?

Sharon

 

[Bunny]

I have no Residential Treatment Center (RTC) experience, but I have to say that I agree with the others. It sounds more like they are just holding the kids rather than trying to treat them. I would make my concerns known ASAP.

 

[JJJ]

It does not sound right to me. There are going to be times when any Residential Treatment Center (RTC) looks out of control but then you should see staff quickly addressing the situation, calling in back-up, etc.

Is there somewhere else you can move him? Even another cottage at that Residential Treatment Center (RTC)?

 

[amazeofgrace]

thanks for the input. It's a private facility, one of the ones most recommend. But I am less than thrill;ed with the staff, the social worker calls me daily, but I think that had something to do with the large flame I lit uder his dairy air. Have a call in to difficult child II's case worker. difficult child II can be over sensistive so it's very hard to get a clear read but something doesn't feel right.

 

[amazeofgrace]

spoke with difficult child II's former inhome therapist who also works in a residential as a sw and he says I can't be too critical, that the staff has a lot to manage, they can only do so much, blah blah blah blah... I am trying to be positive I am but I will never forgive myself if something happens to my son while he's in there!

 

[Confused]

amazeofgrace,
I agree with the others, you need to find another place. If you want his hand looked at, your the mom, they should comply. Good luck.

 

[recoveringenabler]

Like many of the others, I have no experience here, but it doesn't sound right. I would say to trust your mother's intuition and go with your gut feelings about it.

 

[susiestar]

aog, you have good instincts. trust them. period. they exist for a very good, biological, survival of the species reason. They exist to make srue your child is an evolutionary winner, meanng he lives long enough to have kids. those instincts tell us when something is wrong and they don't lie. i don't care who says this is okay, you know it is isn't. the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) should not ever be unresponsive. my difficult child was on a psychiatric hospital ward for 4 mos at a residential psychiatric hospital and some of the staff was much like you describe as far as education and training, but they were never the only ones on duty. this was partly because it was a hospital setting, but also because they needed to be there and the orderlies - ones with hs diploma and on the job training - were not legally allowed to be the only supervision. At no time did the kids, age 12-17, get rowdy with-o staff responding. even if the nurse was setting up medications and the orderlies were busy supervising other things, the kids who got rowdy only had until the nurse could lock the medications down - and they were set up near a special cabinet that the whole tray could be locked in asap - before the nurse could get to them and stop tehm. this was totally paid for by medicare and whle not the fanciest, did keep the kdis safe and did reach a lot of them.

this is not a good placement. please, trust your instincts and find a new place. something is very wrong there.