Tina's Daily Blog: Kids Will Be Kids

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Kids Will Be Kids

This weekend was pretty great. Jonathan sang on a show at Innisbrook on Saturday and did VERY well. The theme of the show was "The Future of Barbershop"... and they sang two songs and got a standing ovation! It was awesome! We had some behavior issues with Jonathan... which continue to get him into trouble. I thought he had taken his meds that morning, but maybe not. UGG. He went up to some guys in a Top 3 in the WORLD quartet and asked them to "Sign my boob". Denise, their coach, was mortified when one of the guys told her that one of 'her boys' asked her this. Sigh.... Jonathan is (in my opinion) the best voice but also has the worst behavior in the quartet. Frustrating. However... I just talked to a friend about the whole thing who tells me to "Forget it! He's a kid acting like a kid! " I needed that perspective! **grins**

While we were at Innisbrook, the girls mostly stayed in the room or at the pool. Justin went with us to the show. For whatever reason... Justin enjoys this music. I know, I know, I couldn't believe it myself, but he does. I even heard him singing a duet with Jonathan on one of his quartet songs! Of course it's always fun when Amanda is there and we can sing 4-part harmony... tags... woodshed some songs... just fun fun fun. We stayed over at Innisbrook Saturday night and Sunday came back home.

On Monday night I made what some say is the best dinner I've ever cooked - Blackened Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo and Blackened Chicken Fettucini Alfredo. It was one of those Publix "Apron Meals" so it was pretty easy, and it was really awesome. The kids raved about it, saying that it looked and tasted like something they would order at Macaroni Grill. I'd agree.... and I can't wait for lunch today to go and eat some leftovers! Yummmmmm.

Things at home are going okay. Progress reports come home today... so we will see - for sure - who is doing what in class! I'm expecting a lot of punishment to be dealt to the kids tonight... let's hope I'm wrong. We still continue to modify and tweak the chore chart. On the whole, everyone does most of their chores most of the time - but typically have to be reminded. The kids do NOT gripe or complain about their chores, although they often just forget if not reminded. (For the record, I'll take forgetting over complaining any day of the week) The only one still not actively doing chores is Amanda. Her room looks like a BOMB went off in it... you can't even SEE the floor. When I talked to her about it last night she said "Since I'm paying $500 in rent, you can't say anything" and I quickly snapped back "YOU ARE PAYING RENT NOW??" Yeah, she's not begun to pay anything yet... and when she does, it'll be expenses ONLY for the first month or two. However, I told her - when she DOES start paying rent - we are going to require the SAME thing from her that we did from Julie and Katie when they lived with us years ago and paid rent... Messy is okay -- however dirty/filthy/a wreck is not acceptable. The room can not attract bugs or rodents as a result of how it's kept. I told her -- "If you don't like it.... MOVE". Harsh words... I know... but I felt they were necessary. There are other things going on with Amanda that I don't blog about for good reason... but just trust me when I say that our relationship is often times strained. We love her so very much... and we want her to do everything necessary to pay back everyone she owes and get on her own feet. When she does things that are not headed in that direction we get......... frustrated.

ANYways... what else is new? Chris is headed to Orlando this weekend. The high schoolers are going to Universal and he's their bus driver. I'm hoping to get Justin and Kayla registered to go... it's only $50 each... but not sure I have that right now. But I'm praying about it and I'm sure it'll happen if it's supposed to happen. Speaking of Orlando.... Friday night we may go to a party in Orlando. The little girl I've blogged about before, Christal (8yo with brain cancer), is having a Hawaii themed party at some awesome place in Orlando. I'd love to see Chris, Drew and Christal first and foremost... and secondly is that I know the kids would have fun. They are going to have fun, food, games, food, silly string fights, food. LOL It's just a long drive to Orlando on a Friday night... not sure that I want to do that, but we'll see. I'll pray about it, and if we are supposed to go, we'll go.

Kayla is in a new class at school -- sewing. She LOVES it. She has always like making things, so I'm really not surprised that she's enjoying this class so much. She has been asking me for a sewing machine... if anyone knows where I can get a simple one rather cheaply, I'd appreciate if you'd let me know. It would make her year!

Our two high-schoolers just came home with progress reports. Well, Justin did... Kayla left hers in school. Justin has 2 A's, 3 B's and 1 C. (The C is in Geometry which we knew he was struggling just a little in). Kayla 'forgot' hers, but thanks to that cool online tool, Edline, we can check most of her grades online anyways. We know that she has at least 2 B's, 1 C, 1 D and 1 F. There's another grade 'missing' so we'll have to take a look at the progress report tomorrow. If she doesn't bring it home I'll call the school for it. She's obviously on restriction already thanks to the F and D. Frrrrrrrrrustrating. The middle schoolers get their progress reports tomorrow. More on that when they come in!

Julie is coming over again tomorrow night, and she's bringing food once again. (Yippee!) I really can't complain about her visit last week, so I'm looking at this visit with a very high level of optimism. Julie called today to tell me that she pretty much fired Dr. Vergeese -- she's not going to see him any more. She's seeing this new Doctor and she really likes him. She's always hated it that Dr. Vergeese talks about his other patients while he's seeing her, and she's asked him each and every time to stop, and he just continues. A part of me also feels that Julie is upset that he's refusing to write the letter that she wants. That same part of me wonders if the new doctor fully understands the extent of Julie's illness and her history. I mean... he started seeing her at her absolute best in dozens of years. However, I know that - if Julie is not really better... then eventually it'll come back... eventually she'll have another cutting episode or depression episode or try to hurt/kill herself again.

It's late and I really can't think of anything more to blog about at the moment. I'm trying hard to stay off the Amanda subject because it is weighing so heavily on my heart at the moment. I'll just ask that you say prayers for her... and for us.

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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

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Kids Will Be Kids

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