Blasted people

[klmno]

difficult child just called and told me he'd been set back 2 weeks on release for something all people in the unti did- had candy- and they told him "well this works out better because it gives people more time to figure out where you're going and your parole plan". I could flippin scream! You can bet this will be added to my letter going to fed gov. They simply aren't allowed to do this.

All this malarky behavioral contract- famil;y koi to "make sure a family stays consistent in rewards/consequences" and look at them- retaliating and throwing around their weight...

So they'll put him back and say it's because PO needs more time to form plan then PO will use the fact that he was set back to justify long term GH with no reunification plan.

This agency has gone beyond control. Department of Juvenile Justice assigned his sentence; he did his sentence. They need to stop CYAing each other and grow up and be responsible. PO was supposed to have plan in writing and presented to difficult child and me before Christmas- well- planned out before Christmas and submitted to difficult child and me a week ago.

It seems awful coincidental to me that this happened this afternoon- given that ombudsman called me this afternnoon and I told her I'd be filing a formal complaint against PO and it was obvious she'd been talking to PO. It makes me wonder about that sex misconduct charge in Nov, too, that set difficult child back from Dec to Feb. That happened 3 weeks before his scheduled release date, too, when this first koi with PO came up.

 

[DammitJanet]

They got in trouble for having candy? I thought they could get candy from the canteen? So flippin what?

 

[InsaneCdn]

Document, document, document.
You won't want to go public with this, until after difficult child's needs are resolved.
But... this would be a great media circus...

 

[KTMom91]

Sounds to me like there's no real plan for difficult child, besides keeping him locked up.

 

[Shari]

Keep writing....

 

[buddy]

Well, sure. On paper it will now look like they got the plan done on time, right? But the timing is exactly right... you are not kidding. these people have a pillow in hell in their future.

 

[susiestar]

Document, document, document. EVERYTHING. They won't have a pillow because that will make Hades more comfortable. They will have a pillow case filled with lice to sleep on.

I am so sorry. I am sure they are wanting to do all they can to sabotage you just like they have done since that awful GAL was assigned years ago. I wish I could help. Can you find the journalist who wrote the article about the Department of Juvenile Justice system being on probation? Maybe that would be a possible resource?

 

[klmno]

I went to bed early and just got up- I don't know why but I guess between the bad tooth and this issue, I am requiring a whole lot of sleep lately- more than 8 hours per night.

Anyway, I'll try to work on the documentation a little after work today and finish it this weekend - I'm waiting to go to the media. I thought it might be better to wait until I get responses from Department of Juvenile Justice (or don't get any repsonses at all) before I go to the media so they can be informed of how these people handled my complaints. difficult child is thinking this could get him to come straight home- I doubt it and alsthough I'm writing in my letters that I'd prefer he come home than go to a long term GH that is actually another sanction, I'm fighting more for what I asked for to begin with- a short term placement that focuses on reunification. But more than that- his PO and super to be held accountable and start doing their job the way they are supposed to.

Re the candy- difficult child's story is that they are allowed to have it in whatever place (school, the room they go to for privileges like movies and games, and religious services) but they aren't supposed to bring it back to the unit. According to him, everyone aslways has bbrought it back to the unti and it was never enforced not to until yesterday. He said other boys got set back further than him, but he was made a "leader" in his unit a couple of weeks ago and considered the furthest along.

Now what I find interesting is that the behav couns who is also the one giving the anger management courses/group therapy had fallen way behind where should should have been in that course due to many, many ansences thru the holidays because of an illness then death in her family. She had been doubling up to try to catch up to meet the deadline in 2 weeks so difficult child and others could be released the 2nd week of Feb. Then suddenly, they are all pushed back 2 weeks or more. It sure seems convenient for her to now have 2 weeks more to finish this course, doesn't it?

difficult child said other staff told him to talk to the director there about it. I told him follow proper procedure for a grievance. He said they are no longer allowing them or giving them info on filing a grievance to anyone except the director there. i find that interesting, too- it didn't used to be that way.

Of course, I'm also wondering if difficult child is telling this the way it really is- maybe he knew he'd get in trouble for bringing the candy to the unit and he's sabatoging the release date because I know he cringes over the thought of a long term GH placement, yet he didn't want to do anything really bad to get in big trouble. This program just isn't anywhere close to being a comfortable fit for either of us- it seems as bad an idea, or maybe worse even, than his committment to Department of Juvenile Justice the first time.

 

[DammitJanet]

Well obviously the candy deal is different in Department of Juvenile Justice than adult prison then. You may be right on him sabotaging in tiny ways though.

 

[donna723]

I'm not sure what the issues would be with the candy or only being able to have it some locations, and it may be different with the juveniles. In our adult system there are also very strict rules about candy and what they are and are not allowed to have. Ours could buy certain kinds of candy in the commissary and keep it in their rooms, mainly candy bars made of chocolate. They were NOT allowed to have hard candies of any type, the kinds that are mostly sugar. Ours would take these hard candies and crush them up and use them as the sugar base to make their homemade liquor ferment! The ones who worked in the kitchen would also smuggle out the sugar-based drink mixes and Jello powders because they were mostly sugar and they could do the same thing with them. They would mix these sugary things with fruit or juice or even bread, potato peels or popcorn if they were desperate enough. Put it all together, let it sit for a while, and if you didn't get caught, you would have a nasty (but drinkable) alcoholic beverage. The system had to go to buying only artifically sweetened drink mixes and gellatins and actual granulated or powdered sugar is strictly forbidden. Even the employees have to use artificial sweetners for their coffee, no real sugars. And when they served fresh or canned fruit in the dining halls as part of a meal, the rule was that they had to eat it there. They would get a write-up for trying to bring any kind of fruit back to the housing units with them.

 

[klmno]

I haven't heard anything about the boys in juvie doing this kind of stuff- or even knowing about it. Hopefully, difficult child doesn't know it. I feel sure if he was busted for trying to make alcohol I would have gotten a call from someone at the facility. I definitely don't want to broadcast how to make it to him!

 

[donna723]

Most of them may not know about this but I'll bet some of them do. This has gone on forever in prisons and jails and it's the main reason for all the rules about what kinds of food they can or cannot have in their rooms.

 

[klmno]

Thanks for the input! It was enough for me to deal with when I saw his jailhouse tattoo and he told me about busting sprinkler heads and flooding toilets. That's plenty enough for me to deal with at this point. LOL! I paid his restitution for nearly 5000 worth of damage to stuff before his first commitment (it was raked up before first commitment but I just got it paid off this Christmas)- he can pay for busted sprinklers while incarcerated and he can live with the tattoo. And I'll fight for a reunification plan but as far as I'm concerned, he's on his own with any future law-breaking. That's another beef I have with PO- they can tell difficult child what their behavior contract is; if difficult child lives with me, I rule the roost in any home I'm paying for from here on out. Not difficult child and not PO.

As far as this situation with candy- it makes more sense now why they'd have a rule like that but I don't know what is going on in the facility for this specific situation- it's equally plausible to me that difficult child could be witholding all the facts from me; the beh couns might be looking for an excuse to clear her hiney for being so far behind in the anger management program requirements, or they might be trying to punish difficult child and buy time since I filed those complaints- although I find that unlikely because I don't think the staff in Department of Juvenile Justice even get along that well with PO. I do think difficult child's beh couns in there is an incompetent flake- although I've never said that to him. He's told me other staff have complained about her though.