blah blah blah
My kid has been an inpatient in a mental ward now for 3 weeks. He has had the luxury of a once-weekly outpatient psychiatrist, courtesy of my husband’s generous family, for years now. Until this admission, son has been dismissed too soon, but we managed. Now, I’m grateful he’s being kept longer, but suddenly I’m out of control – they tell me that they want to keep him inpatient until medically stable (yes, great, agree!) but he can’t stay there (agree) but – now they are switching out his counselor whom we liked, for her supervisor, whom is condescending to us (they mainly deal with indigent parents apparently “now this boy surely would be too stressed in an advanced class, don’t you agree?” – GRRRR) – and so they are considering something called Therapeutic Foster Care. My son (yes, those of you who know, Mr. Fenet’s boy) thinks he’s being given to other parents who will buy him clothes and take him places and be nicer. I could deal with that but – basically this system is like foster care, where parents take another kid in and get $2500/mo or so, but these folks have special training supposedly and get even MORE $$$ per month. Then his treatment goes down. I want him to be in a therapeutic boarding school or good residential treatment center, but this foster option costs less I hear and is easier (for whom?) and so I’m pushing against it, but they are pushing toward it.
Now, my husband has begun arguing with me (this is a valid argument, but I still hold my ground) that when I say I want to keep my kid with me, that I don’t want to do these things except for last resort. I just want to exhaust all other options first, but he thinks every time I’m in the university hospital and try to explain that we aren’t the regular indigent parents, and that “any old place” won’t do, he thinks we are jeopardizing my son’s health and future.
Basically, I’m scared. Scared. I’m still my son’s mother. I always will be. This really sucks. This summer really sucks.
