Tina's Daily Blog: Teens, Teens, Teens... Pass the Valium Please

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Teens, Teens, Teens... Pass the Valium Please

Boy oh boy.... Amanda moving back home sure has stirred up all kinds of excitement. You know..... the yelling, bossing, picking, etc. We agreed she could move back home as long as she carried her own weight financially and with chores and such. We also had the talk about how she couldn't yell, pick or bully any of the kids living at home.

Thursday morning the boys got up kind of quickly as Justin had a dentist appointment and apparently they woke up Amanda who got pretty upset and asked them to 'tip-toe around upstairs'. Yeah.... that's gonna happen! Then - at lunch today - Amanda tells me that she does not want to contribute anything to food in the house. She has now seen first-hand how these kids can eat and eat and eat and eat... and she doesn't want to have to pay a portion of the amount of money it cost to put food in the house for them to tear through it like they do. (Remember a gallon of milk, loaf of bread, gallon of ice cream - all can be gone in ONE day with these kids). We told her that we would not allow her to not contribute to that - mainly because - if we did, we'd have to police her... you know, make sure she wasn't eating any of the food or other groceries we bought... and I don't want to do that. In addition, there are non-food items that you buy while grocery shopping (toilet paper, napkins, soap, etc). On the positive side, they will be starting school again soon and will eat 2 of their meals there.

I guess it just rubs me the wrong way that she has come into our home - desperate - and yet acts the way she does. We gave her one room of the house, she took two. She wanted the cat litter out of the room, I said, since you've taken 2 rooms, I want to leave the cat litter where it is - it's moved. She's so poor and yet she's been to see two new movie releases in the past couple of weeks. I mean... we literally figured out what it would cost US to just have her live at home, we gave her 2 months 'free' (meaning she can just pay what she can) before she needs to kick in money to support her living here. And yet... she wants to cut back on that! I can just already feel the tension building between us... and I hate that . She's my oldest daughter. I want to love her and watch her go out on her own and make a wonderful life for herself. And she will... I know she will.

I am drawing up the rental agreement as I type. She wants it all formal and in writing. No problem there.

She also couldn't mooch a drive into work today. I asked her to go apply at some places down the street... close enough where she could walk or ride a bicycle. And - to my utter amazement - she's there now. I told her she should go do this because her new job at Chili's wasn't even full time! I'm hoping and praying that it all works out for her. I know she'll be happy if she's working someplace where she doesn't have to beg someone to drive her to and from. Plus - with the financial hole she's in, she needs to work not only full time, but overtime!

And this is the hardest part: I want Amanda to acknowledge that she needs help or guidance right now. She's had a rough year... her own friends are telling her that she 'didn't just burn bridges, she burned and then demolished them'. Add to that two boyfriends which she has been extremely clingy to (you know, that annoying 'what are you doing right now, what did you just do, what are you going to do, who are you doing it with, who's with you'..... that stuff) I am confident that we can guide her in the right direction. Not pull her in ours... but actually get her compass set on the right area and gently push her forward. We want her to get a job and work hard. We want her to go to Church with us. We want her to pay off her obligations. And we want her heart to be filled with hope, love, and faith. That last sentence was probably the most important. She hasn't had that in a while. Sure, she's been excited about things (like moving to Denver) but she hasn't really had that 'fire' inside of her.

So... about us. It is EXTREMELY worse with 5 teens at home instead of 4. I can't really describe it.... it's not that Amanda is just awful or anything like that... it's that --- it's just way more chaotic. I once described Amanda's visits as: us being a snow-globe and Amanda comes over and shakes it. Yeah... it's like that. And.... Chris and I had a fight last night because of all the chaos. It's midnight, Amanda's just getting home... we can't get kids into bed... I didn't have money to stop and buy toilet paper and Amanda walks in with McDonalds (where SHE has money from since she hasn't worked in forever I've no idea) Add to this the fact that I've not been feeling well... and you get hurt feelings and arguments.

Amanda just called... Target offered her a job and although not a lot per hour, but I guess... guaranteed full time and close to home might win. She didn't ask about any of their benefits or anything like that, but I'm sure they offer benefits to their full time employees, which Amanda hasn't had in a LONG time. So... maybe this is right for her... we'll see!

And for those concerned about my health - my doctor - one week after my test - still has not called me back yet. I actually received the hard copy of the report yesterday and it's... scary. Scary to know that something might be wrong. Scary to see the word 'tumor' anywhere. So... I call them often... and I sit and wait for the return call. Headache pounding. They did tell me about my blood test and - no surprise here - my iron is low. It's 10. Normal should be 100 or something like that. It would explain why I'm so tired. They called in a prescription, now I just have to get down there and pick it up. Alas... that big money beast once again.

I better run. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

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In A Nutshell:

Here is a letter I sent to Dr. Phil which really sums everything up:
I am married to my high-school sweetheart (20 years this August), with two wonderful children (Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13). I have two sisters, both younger – I call them “my good sister” and “my bad sister”. My good sister is – well, good! Normal in every way. The bad one, Julie, has been in trouble since she was a kid. As a baby she cried all of the time. As a teenager she was in trouble all of the time. At the age of 14 or so I remember that she had run away from home to live with a grown man in Atlanta. This was one of many run a ways. As a teenager, she provided sexual favors to boys in school, as well as teachers. As a young adult she was arrested for prostitution. She’s done drugs ranging from marijuana to crack. She was diagnosed early on as bi-polar with personality disorder. She’s also a serious cutter to the point where she no longer hid the cuts. She’s cut things like “Ronald Cecchinni” into her arm… and “Fuck you Dr. XXX” on her stomach, in large letters. Julie is also a diagnosed sex-addict. She’s also recently (in the past year) begun ‘huffing’. (I honestly believe that this huffing has caused some permanent damage) She is currently 36yo.
Julie lost her husband Ron a year and a half ago as a result of Leukemia and Kidney Disease which the military attributed to his serving in the Gulf War. He left behind three children – Kayla who is now 15, Justin who is now 14 and Kayte who is now 13. Even when Julie was married, her psychiatric problems persisted. She has been hospitalized literally hundreds of times over the years. However, when her husband was alive, he would take care of the kids when Julie was mentally out of control. After Ron died, Julie lost control of the kids and her life. She began to spiral out of control, having pot parties at her home (to the point where the kids said a door would open and a cloud of smoke would come bellowing out of the room), smoking weed with her own kids, having sex all over the house with different men all the time, allowing young men (19 yo) to sleep over with her oldest daughter (only 14 at the time), and allowing Gang members to live in her home (she said she felt ‘safe’ with them there). In addition, she was attempting suicide daily, overdosing on medications hoping to not wake up the next morning. Mind you all of this while she was seeing her Psychologist every week and Psychiatrist once a month. Both of these Doctors knew what was going on at home, neither of them reported it to the proper authorities. I have even been told by one of them that he was told, by Julie, that she ‘heard voices telling her to hurt the children’ but that she was proud that she could ignore the voices. Still, these Doctors reported nothing.
I should add here that it was at some point in this period of time in Julie’s life when her children began suicide watches over their mom… each one taking turns to sit in a room with her at all hours (night and day) because their mom was less-likely to hurt herself while they were here. However, it didn’t always work – Julie constantly took pills in front of them trying to either dope herself up or overdose, and she would even cut herself in front of the kids.
Finally one day, she woke up furious that her last suicide attempt didn’t work. She got violent with her oldest daughter, police were called, and finally DCF was called. (I would like to add that we (other family members) had called DCF in the past to report things, but some of the cases were ‘unfounded’ and one other time the fled the state knowing CF only had jurisdiction in Florida.) DCF removed the children from the home in November 2005 and I gained custody of the Children shortly thereafter.
There are lots of things I could add here about my sister, DCF, and the horrible Foster Care or Custodial Care program we are involved with. However, that is not my main reason for writing to you.
Kayte, the youngest, seems to be adjusting pretty well. She has a tendency to trivialize what her mom has done and the seriousness of it, but I think that is normal given that it is her mom. Kayte was in counseling, but she feels it’s ‘a waste of time’.
Justin, the middle child, is okay. As a young boy I'm told he was a terror. He used to hit his mother and at one point (only 6yo) tried to jump off a building to kill himself. Since then, his anger has turned in to an endless smothering of love and caring. He does everything for his mom… from getting her whatever she needs to rubbing her feet and back. Justin has seen a psychiatrist since moving in with me who felt that his issues were brought on by trauma. It was also at that visit with the psychiatrist that he confided in myself and the Doctor that he had suicidal thoughts often while living at home with his mom in her ‘state of being’ after his dad died. However, since he moved in with me he has done so much better (and continues to improve daily) that she didn’t feel he even needed counseling at this time. He would, however, need counseling before he was reunited with his mom.
Kayla, the oldest, has serious issues. She is also currently in counseling but feels that it is ‘a waste of time’. Kayla has always lied and stolen things. Family members feel sorry for her because you can tell that she doesn’t really mean any ill will by it, but it’s been ‘the way she is’ for a very long time. By far her biggest problems are lying and her need for approval by men (young and old).
Since the kids have moved in with us, my husband and I have set up rules. The kids already had myspace accounts, so we set ground rules for it. 1) We needed the login names and passwords. 2) Profiles must be set to private. 3) The only people they were allowed to have on their friends list was people that they actually knew. When Kayla’s list climbed over 300, and she was found to have inappropriate conversations (wanting to sneak out and ‘hook up’ with young men), we made everyone cut their list down to 30 friends, which included myself. 4) All vulgar language and inappropriate photos would come off immediately and would be monitored by myself at any given time. At times, they try to put up ‘sexy’ pictures which immediately need to come down.
However recently I have found that she has multiple website things going on in an attempt to pick up young men. I'll outline a few here so that you understand the gravity of the situation: 1) I found her 'normal' myspace account set to 'public view'. She has over 11,000 profile views(meaning people looking at her pictures and wanting to know more about her). I had reset it to private many times, but she keeps going back and resetting it to public. 2) I have found another myspace account which she went by the name 'Shannon' and used it to pick up young men, tease them, then later tell them that she was 'taken' but refer them to her 'cousin, Kayla'. She'd then give them all of Kayla's information. Of course thiswas also set to public. 3) I have found another social network website that was like myspace in which she had ONLY men (mostly from other states) as her 'friends' whom she corresponded with. The emails back and forth basically said the same thing as all of the others... more on that in #4 - only these were guys that not only did she not know, but they were not even in the area! 4) All accounts that I have found had basically the same thing... her emailing guys wanting to know if she was pretty, if they wanted to 'hook up', talking about going to their 'crib' or meeting up with them somewhere, and constantly seeking approval and affirmation from these guys.
I believe she gets this from her mom. And the sad thing is, if you met her, you would love her. She is truly a GREAT kid… but she has serious issues. I’ve described to you Julie’s behavior and Kayla’s seems to be the same way. Neither can make decisions on their own that are ‘the right thing to do’, and both lack the understanding of simple values, morals and ethics. I could go into so many examples. How do I describe the utterly amazing difference between Julie’s parenting style and my own?
I know... Both Julie and I have myspace accounts set up to ‘monitor’ the kids. To illustrate the difference between Julie and myself, here is something that Julie and I both put on our myspace accounts. You are supposed to put something 'about yourself' by your picture. Here is mine: "I'm 38 years old. I have two amazing kids, Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13. I have great husband, Chris. I love to sing - and have been singing in Toast of Tampa Show Chorus for 10 years. I'm raising my nieces and nephew (12, 13 and 14). I love God and my family."And here is Julie's: "I am who I am and if you dont like me for me........FUCK YOU........ Plus if you dont like me for me....... Im gunna tell my kids and there gunna kick yer ass!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Here’s the other dilemma we are having; the two girls are in counseling that is costing me $25 EACH in co-payments every time they go. The State of Florida provides NO financial support to me as a relative caregiver, other than providing the three kids with Medicaid. They received small SSI checks because of their dad’s death, but it barely covers the food they consume. The DCF worker, having spoke with the girls and being told that therapy is ‘a waste of time’, has referred me to a clinic that DCF uses for cases such as this to seek mental care for Kayla (aswell as the others). However, the kids have TriCare as their primary insurance because their dad died from Military causes. TriCare requires the co-payment, regardless of the Medicaid secondary. Having said that, please understand that I worked in referrals in a primary care physician’s office for 16 years… I totally ‘get’ what is required for primary and secondary insurances and all the red tape. But because of the uniqueness of this situation, the kids are suffering!
I should also point out here that I have the kids for an indefinite period of time. Right now Julie is doing things that she has been told to do to get the kids back. However, she is still awaiting a court ordered detailed Psychiatric exam to determine if she can EVER parent again. Even if that Psychiatrist feels she can parent again, she’ll most likely need to be ‘clean’ and ‘episode-free’ for 6 months to a year minimum. In addition, Julie is only allowed supervised visits and one phone call a day. This came about because of her inappropriate behavior when she was with the kids and because when she was allowed to call any time she’d call 10 + times a day.
The other problem with Julie ever getting her children back is that… she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She parents as if she were 15-years old herself. If anyone has ever done something bad and been able to ‘keep’ their kids, she sees no reason she can’t do it. She brought her daughter at the age of 13 in for a HUGE tattoo on the small of her back. It’s Tigger flipping ‘the bird’ with her gang name under it. She was also planning on getting a large tattoo on her 12yo before the kids were taken. Again, she sees nothing wrong with any of her past behavior.
So, you see, I could have these children for the rest of their teenage years. I honestly don’t know where to turn to get them the help they need.
I feel as if I am in a psychiatric nightmare and I just can’t wake up. Eight months ago I was at home, my biggest ‘kid worry’ was if my son was going to get good grades on his report card. Now I find myself in a crux worried about whether or not the lessons I teach them, this late in their young life, are going to be enough to turn these kids around and help them to be productive adults in the near future.

Tina's Daily Blog

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Teens, Teens, Teens... Pass the Valium Please

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