We went to Court on Monday. I had met with Joe’s attorney and told him what I was wanting for an outcome. I couldn’t be happier with what the Judge ruled.
The are subclassing Joe into the psychiatric disabilities classification. This will help prevent any DJJ incarcerations in the future by having him diverted into a facility such as RTF or specialized foster home if he gets into trouble in the future. It also opens the other things ruled up to him.
Joe is going to RTF (Residential Treatment Facility) and being taken off of his meds. Once they are out of his system, the psychiatrist will conduct testing to get a baseline of what Joe’s behaviors, observations and interview questions indicate is his true diagnosis. Because he has been in and out of the hospital so many times, and with as varying of diagnoses as he’s had, this is crucial to pinpoint the actual issues in order to come up with an appropriate treatment plan.
The agencies have to meet once Joe had completed 60 days at RTF and review the report and recommendations from the facility psychiatrist and come up with a treatment plan for once he is discharged. This will hopefully provide a seamless transition and offer him a lot more services, including home-based.
The Judge wants another hearing once Joe has been home for 30 days to ensure the agencies are providing proper support.
The school is ordered to conduct a new psycho-educational evaluation and rewrite his IEP. The Judge specified that he wants the school to examine Joe’s strong science scores and see if there is anything they can do to further him in science and use his interest to help in be more successful in other subjects.
Joe will be on probation for 18 months.
I was so happy when I walked out of the courtroom. It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted. At the moment we are still waiting for a transfer to RTF (he is still at DJJ). I should hear early next week where they plan on sending him, and the length of wait Joe should have before transfer.
My only sad point is that now, since my husband deployed, I can’t visit Joe. They won’t allow my daughter to visit (no visitors under 18), and because I have no sitter I can’t see him. That breaks my heart, but I hope that the transfer occurs soon se it isn’t that long before I see him again.
In other news, my friend that has been in the hospital since January is not doing very well. He has a huge infection that is shutting down his systems and his skin grafts have stopped healing. His family has decided not to resuscitate if he goes into cardiac arrest. My heart is breaking for him and his family. I’m still hopeful that he will pull through this, but it’s looking pretty grim. He is strong and stubborn though, so anything is possible.