As usually happens when I start feeling like my life is calming down, we've got a big change coming. We got a call last week from the boy's ranch where Mr. Adventure has been staying for the past 3 months. They will be discharging him in 11 days. This was not the original plan. Upon admission, we were going to reassess his placement/progress in a year. That was the hope. However, for that to happen, he has to be able to maintain behaviors that the staff could handle. This facility is what's called a "basic care facility", so they only train for kids that can follow rules fairly well and do not have any extreme mental illnesses or outbursts. Mr. Adventure no longer fits into that category.
His aggression toward the other boys there has gotten worse. He's become aggressive with the adults as well. His tantrums are increasingly destructive...throwing things, knocking over furniture, kicking holes in walls and doors.
The house parents in his residence say that it takes one of them to manage the other 8 boys in the home and one of them to manage Mr. Adventure. Same situation we had here....one parented our other 4 kids and one of us tried to parent him. It's not fun.
Now our hope is to have him reassess and 'leveled' more appropriately. Instead of being 'basic', he needs to be Moderate or Specialized. Once we get his new level assigned by someone through the state, we'll be able to look for places that are better trained for his behaviors. We need to find one that is a match, is willing to accept him given his history, and has an immediate opening for a boy his age. And all of this needs to happen in the next 11 days!
But it might not. So, we also need to have a 'back-up' plan in place in case he has to leave the current ranch and has no where to go but here. With the aggression and violence that he's displayed lately, we feel that bringing him to our house put our other kids at significant risk. My Hero has considered getting a hotel and staying with him there until we find a placement. We've also tossed around a million other outrageous ideas.
It sure would be nice if it all just goes quickly and smoothly...I guess we'll find out within the next 11 days!
