As soon as we moved here C started spiraling out of control and it just kept getting worse. We got her in with a therapist that was covered under our insurance, but she had the foresight from day one that she was not quite qualified to assist C with the issues she was experiencing and she suggested we get her into intensive in home therapy. This made a lot of sense to us since 100% of her issues were occurring in the home. Our stumbling block was that this therapy was not covered by our insurance. In the meantime we were able to secure a diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder (I will write more about this in a later post).
Today Mike and I appeared before a board of people who are the ones who decide if we would get the funding we applied for or not. C's school social worker has been a God send and has helped me through this application process. VA has funds set aside for interventions that would prevent a child from going into the foster care system. Obviously for us disrupting her adoption is not an option, but nevertheless this is where the funding we applied for comes from. We applied for funding to cover 8 hours a week of intensive in home therapy for the next 12 weeks and we were APPROVED!
You may be thinking "I wouldn't want a stranger in my home for that much of my time every week!". I agree and feel the same way, however, this is how we are going to help our girl. We have to make sacrifices. All of us need help in how to cope with her behaviors and manipulation. It won't be forever, it's just a season.
I then had a meeting with the professionals at the school about any possible accommodations we felt she may need at school. Let me point out that they came to ME asking for this meeting. This is amazing to be because in Ohio I had to fight and get an advocate just to get a meeting about accommodations for one of the girls. C isn't having any issues at school, in fact she presents as a very sweet, helpful and well adjusted kiddo. While this is a good thing, it makes me feel like a nut job whenever I am telling teachers what is going on at home. Today the vice principal looked me in the eye and made sure I knew that they 100% believe me and do not want me to feel like they think I'm crazy. I melted into a puddle of tears. We are so blessed to be at this school with these professionals that GET IT! That's so rare! Also, a bonus, was there were donuts at this meeting. Some people drink when they're stressed, I eat carbs and sugar!
I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. My full time job, since we moved here, has been managing her appointments, finding professionals, calling insurance companies and trying to access resources. I can finally exhale. I ask that you pray for our girl. Pray for healing for her heart and mind. Pray that she can learn to allow herself to be loved. Pray that I can take some time to do some self care as I am so weary. Thank you all for your love and support.
