Thanks Keith

Keith
Thanks for the autograph photo that arrived today. The Dishes are done!!! That was too cute. Instant flash backs of you sitting on the roof shooting the plates. She laughed.

Monster Child

Monster Child is a term I coined years ago when my daughter drives me nuts.

This has been a week of Monster Child antics.

Monday and Tuesday were not bad as we went to visit a residential treatment facility in Redding, CA. (four hour drive each way) The facility is a level 14 which means it runs about 5,000 a month. The non-public school that the facility works with is 186 a day or about 4092 a month. So if she is admitted, the school district, county mental health, county, medicaid, and private insurance will be shelling out close to 10,000 a month for her care. The goal of community based services is that they have to be able to function in the community upon discharge.

The facility consists of 10 homes spread out in the community of Redding. 6 homes are girls and 4 are boys. All clients are 11-17 years of age. They use more of a community based service plan then we have had in the past. Our past expierences have all been in institutional type settings with up to 100 kids living in 3 wings of one building.

The school is out in the boonies. They have a regular school with 12 classrooms. Each classroom is 12 students, 1 special education teacher, 2 aides, and 1 behavior interventionist for a 3:1 ratio. Each classroom has a class pet ie fish, hamster, etc.

They use several models including the Boystowns Skills Training. They also use the challenges course which has a rock wall, 2 rope courses (1 high and 1 low), and cardiac hill. They have a library, a computer lab, a greenhouse, a garden, a farm, etc. The farm has horses, goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. There were other programs they have incorporated into their program, but I don't recall the names.

Thursday was a day from hell. I got a call at work at 3:15 AM from my mom who has been staying here to help with my daughter. My daughter had left at 1 AM. Grandma wanted to know when to call her into as missing. I told her to call. The police brought her in at 5:30 Am after waking up atleast 4 families that I know of.

You would think that would be the end of it, but it wasn't. Thursday she ran 4 more times. She was calling strangers in the news paper, giving them directions to my home to bring her animals that she can't have, bringing stray animals into the house through bedroom windows, verbally abusive, throwing things, self-injuring, etc.

Then Friday she woke up nice, went to the doctors, went to school, stayed the whole day, earned 85 of 100 points at school, came home and started cleaning her bedroom. I was thrilled.

This morning I was like well maybe things are turning around... I went to WalMart to get some stuff and I see one of her friends in a sweatshirt I just bought 2 days ago. It is worth fifty bucks I was so livid. So then I am just struck with she gave away her mice the other day, and she was giving away things to a friend who was helping her clean the other day... old clothes, bracelets, etc.

So I get home, and in the last hour I have had like 4 people call about bringing dogs/cats/kittens to my home. Luckily I have intercepted them all.

So I sit here and my heart wants to keep her home but I know she can't be home because she isn't functioning in our home, her school, or the community.

It sucks.

She claims I hate her.

She doesn't know she is going to placement. But it is pretty much a done deal at this time.

Updated on the kid

This has been a hetic week.

Monday and Tuesday we went to Redding to visit a non-public school and residential treatment facility. The facility is a RCL 14, the highest level of care. It was an awesome place though. They have the school with 12 students, a special education student, 2 aides, and a behavior interventionist in each class. Each class has a pet. The school has the challenges program wich includes rock walls, high rope courses, low rope courses, and cardiac hill. They have a greenhouse, a garden, a farm with goats, chickens, pigs, rabbits, horses, etc. They offer equine therapy. They coach with the Boystown skills training. They encorperate two or three other programs as well. I forget their names.

Wedensday my daughter was sent home from school sick. She has had bronchitis for about 3 weeks now.

Wedensday night through Thrusday night was just plain insane ... Running away 4 times, breaking curfew, being brought in by the police at 5:30 AM, calling strangers out of the newspaper and giving them directions to our home to try and get their pets, bringing stray animals in the house through windows, self injury behaviors, truancy, etc.

Friday she went to the doctor. She chewed him out for trying to talk to her. He increased one of her meds. Her case manager asked me if the facility had an opening if I would take it. I said yes. She said she would call the intake person we saw on Monday.

Crazy Weekend Birthday

Saturday was my daughters 15th birthday. It was a crazy weekend to say the least.

Friday she was sent home from school. She was caught smoking twice and then tried to ditch school. Friday night she spent the night at a friends house while I was at work. My mom who has been here helping with her left for the weekend and went to Reno with my dad. My sister came up for the weekend.

At one point in the day, a cat was stuck in a tree and our apartment's maintance man was up the tree trying to get it down. When it came down, my daughter was the only one who it would go to. The cat has a huge tumor on it's stomach. It was dehydrated and probably in shock. My daughter was crying it's dying, etc... lots of drama.

Saturday I woke up to a half dozen phone calls from my daughter. Did you pick up my cake yet? The kid wouldn't let me sleep. So I went to SaveMart to pick up the Lord of the Rings cake. Except it was the wrong cake. Apparently between the time I ordered the cake and picked it up, thier book changed. *sighs* It was still a lord of the rings cake, just not the one I ordered.

Throughout the day so many friends came over bringing presents and gobbling up cake.

In the late afternoon her TBS worker came over. My daughter was being a PITA and brought tumor cat into our house through a bedroom window. Not cool! We already have way too many pets. So I began with a compormize. Tumor cat can't be in the house but you can sit on the patio with it. Eventually my daughter wanted to go visit a friend. The deal was she had to free tumor cat in the front of our building before I would take her. It worked but not without her putting our cat's collar and tag on it. *sighs* That night one of her friends spent the night.

Sunday my sister left. My parents came back. There was no cake left for them. They left my daughter a 50.00 gift card for WalMart. So we had to go to WalMart last night. My daughter loves punk and goth so she hit the halloween isles and bought things for her room. My mom is still here but my dad had to go back to Salinas. Tumor cat is now hanging out around our building. *sighs*

This morning when I took out the trash, Tumor cat came up to me for the first time. I felt sorry for it and put out food and water. (bad bad bad) My daughter's TBS worker had suggested at the first chance to get the collar and tag off the cat and throw it in the dumpster. So the tag is gone but the cat remains.

Today, we are traveling to Redding to visit RYS a residential treatment facility about 4 hours away. It is preliminary... just to do an interview and see what they look like. That way if TBS doesn't make enough progress we have our ducks in a row.

You all be good out there.