Kathryn's Family Success

Billy, Joey and Marissa, ages 10, 8 and 7 respectively, the three oldest children of Kathryn were referred to Choices by DCS in March 2010. Kathryn’s three younger children Nellie (age 3), Sam (age 4) and Jake (age 5) were also involved with “the system”. The kids were all living in foster care with relatives – four with an aunt and uncle and two with their grandmother because Kathryn was overwhelmed by her responsibilities. What single parent wouldn’t be overwhelmed given the circumstances? The children all have special needs – including autism, post traumatic stress disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention deficit disorder among others. All need mental health therapy and they require a number of medications. The children’s periodic supervised visits with their mom were not going well. Kathryn seemed unable to control the children (or herself) and screamed at them while chasing them.

The Choices care coordinator, Libby, wondered whether Kathryn had ever had a psychological evaluation herself, since the children all had mental health diagnoses, and Kathryn’s behavior gave some troubling signs. Libby’s hunch was correct - it turned out that Kathryn had her own mental health issues. With medication and therapy she was able to make a remarkable turnaround. Even so, some of Kathryn’s team members didn’t believe that all the children would ever be able to go home. It seemed to be too much for Kathryn.

But with lots of help from her child and family team, and supports that will be in place for Kathryn for as long as she needs them after Choices is no longer around, Kathryn proved everyone wrong. Libby was able to find a mental health center that had an expert in autism treatment along with other home- based workers who were skilled with young children. Three different people come to Kathryn’s home to work with each child for 6-8 hours per week. They provide therapy, mentoring, behavior management and all kinds of support for Kathryn, and she continues to receive her own therapy as well. Kathryn and her children are fortunate to have lots of caring adult family members who are willing to step in and help when necessary – including two grandmothers. DCS plans to close this case with Choices after just 6 months, a credit to Kathryn’s hard work and Libby’s astute observation.