Monday, July 9, 2007

We made it thru the last 11 days and

Alyssa and Brady went back to their other foster home this morning. They really are great kids but I will be happy to have it just the 4 of us again. Emilee and JP had a rough last 7 days and we need to focus on them. We have our Child and Family Team Meeting this afternoon that I will be participating in by phone (their worker is over 9 hrs from where we live so no way to make it to the meeting). One thing they keep asking me about is whether or not I think Emilee needs to be in Play Therapy again. She is seeing a play therapist for a year before coming to our home. I've never had a child in therapy. What kinds of things are "therapy issues" and what is just a "phase" she's going thru??? I need some help on this one. I don't want to let things get too far outta hand, but I don't want to shove her back into something that she may not need. If I had to pick one of them that NEEDS therapy now, I think it would be JP. I think he has a lot of built up frustration/anxiety that he doesn't know how to communicate. I think Emilee was labeled the "problem" child in their old home and he was the "perfect" child and he isn't sure how to handle things now. I think she got a lot of attention for her misbehaving. I don't know - just my thoughts. We will be discussing things more this afternoon. The other thing is, the closest Play Therapist is 60 miles from where we live. Don't get me wrong - if they need it - I will take them, but this will also take some planning and schedule re-doing on everyone's part so I want to know that it is something that is NEEDED. HELP!!!

2 comments:

Susan said...

TAKE the therapy! Once she is in, the therapist will let you know what is a therapy issue and what is just a phase. If you have a choice, ask your pediatrician for a recommendation rather than taking the county one.

Kathy said...

I would also say to take her to therapy. Kids hide things well, and they seem to be more open when a therapist (who knows how to deal with children from the foster care system/special needs children) helps them.

I'm saying this from what I've learned in the books "Parenting The Hurt Child" and "Adopting The Hurt Child". These are AWESOME books, and if you don't have them...I highly recommend them. Both books are focused on the children from the foster care system, and they really do have wonderful info in them! They have a good amount written about therapy, and what therapy REALLY helps these children.