I have an exam this afternoon and a paper due tomorrow. It's a paper I have to actually think about. I have three papers due sometime this week (last week? A month ago?) that won't tax the brain, but I must do them. This is the last week of classes, and next week is final exams. Most of my exams are this week, actually, and I have projects due next week.
But that's not what I came to tell you about.
When we last saw our heroine she was pulling her hair out over Diva. Still. Since then it's gotten worse. Diva has progressed as far as she's going to at the treatment facility (RTF). They need to release her to make room for other clients whom they can help. So where does that leave Diva? The agency (The Agency) that's managing her care (not the RTF) wants to send her back home. We have told them that we aren't ready for that. So they want to put her into a therapeutic foster home for a short while (2 months? 3? I dunno) and transition her back into our home. Oh HELL no! We made it clear that we can't take her now nor in the foreseeable future (3 years? 4? I dunno).
The goal of this care management agency (The Agency) is to keep families together, to provide services for emotionally disturbed children in the least restrictive environment possible and in their own communities. A noble goal, no question. But not always applicable. They're working with us to help Sproing, too, and that is working beautifully. Diva is a different creature.
Here's the thing (one of the things, anyway): she hasn't risen past level 2 of the RTF's 5 level system in the year she's been there. The kids are supposed to reach level 5 and maintain that for a certain length of time to prove their readiness to leave the controlled environment of the RTF. I brought that up to the lady from The Agency. She said the levels were more what you call a guideline, really.
She says Diva's release date is the 30th of April. If we don't take her then, or make other arrangements by then, we will be legally charged with criminal child abandonment. That, of course, goes on our permanent record. With a criminal record of that nature, I will likely never be able to work in the mental health care field. I'm in school getting a psychology degree so I can go on to grad school for a masters in social work or some such so that I can be a counselor. But not if I have a criminal record of child abandonment. And yes, they really will charge us. I've checked.
"But wait," you say. "Diva is mentally ill and not safe to bring home." Bingo. The Agency doesn't care. They finally located a therapeutic foster home for her, but a few homes refused her based on her history and/or diagnosis. Hmmm, does that maybe indicate she isn't safe to bring home? Superman and I have discussed with The Agency the possibility of privately placing her in an extended stay group home type institution. The Agency lady cautioned us to emphasize the progress Diva has made when we talk to these places, and that some places won't take her based on her history. Hello! Does this indicate perhaps she isn't safe to bring home? And yet The Agency is ignoring this obvious contradiction.
We still have the option of letting her go to the therapeutic foster home, but part of the contract for that is that we have to bring her home for overnight visits. Have I mentioned "oh HELL no?"
And let me tell you about the timeline for this. Today is Tuesday the 19th of April. (One of my bestest friends in the whole world has his birthday tomorrow. I should call him. Once again I digress.) I have exams and papers and projects due (which I should be working on right now instead of writing this) from now until next Wednesday, the 27th of April. The RTF is supposed to be kicking Diva out on Saturday the 30th of April. (I'm not certain how set-in-stone that date is.) At 9:00 a.m. on 4/30 I'm supposed to be in Spartanburg for an awards ceremony at Light's college at which Light will receive an award. On Sunday May 1st Light has the opening of her senior art show, a really big deal for her, the culmination of four years of work toward her bachelor of fine arts degree. It's a bigger deal than graduation. And my mother will be in town, as will (I think) my father and step-mother, and various and sundry in-laws. (Not the parents-in-law, though. They come in the day after.) My mother will be in town until Thursday May 5th.
I hardly have time to breathe much less find a place for the child to live, except for maybe two or three days right before she gets kicked out.
Damn. Talking about it raises my blood pressure. We aren't sure what to do (obviously). And I have so much other stuff to worry about.
So I'm going to go eat lunch, look over my notes for the exam I have at 3:00 today, and go to class. As Scarlett O'Hara said, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." I'll think about it tomorrow.
