Recently I became aware of a woman in our county that has been a Foster Parent for hard to handle teens for over 30 years.

The DHS worker wanted to place my daughter April in her home to see if the Foster Home could help her in any way. I supported their decision, partly because after 11 years of handling April I am willing to learn from anyone who has lasted 30 years with such children.

Her home rules are a little different than ours. She makes the children stay out until 8 pm. Then they are allowed in to call parents and then it is off to bed at 10:00 pm.

This is something I know April will have issues with. She never wants to come in for curfew and we allowed... more

For any birth parent I may have offended with my comments in my blog on "Abandonment," please except my full apologies.

I would never refer to all birth parents in any harmful way. I actually to this point in life have felt blessed to be honored to have my children. I know it was an adoption that came about through difficulties on the level of the birth parents.

However, I feel strongly about children and their rights. I have always put my kids first in my life. This is one time with my daughter that I think the family unit should come first. Not the needs of my bipolar daughter.

I still have Angela and her needs to think about. As well as knowing what I need... more

It is never easy if you are a "Swan" to give up any family. They say Swan's mate for life and then at the birth of a baby. Both Mom and Dad watch over the young Swan until he or she takes on a mate.

If you ever see a Swan swimming alone you can be sure that the mate is wounded or dead. Which is a sad thing to think of.

Well I'm a momma Swan. I had a very hard time when my first daughter was at the age where she wanted to get married and move out. Then it was even harder when she came back home when she had her first miscarriage.... more

Well last week I wrote on how my daughter April was removed from our home and placed in Residential Lock Down. DHS had taken custody after the court decided they could no longer help April.

I received a phone call on Tuesday informing me that DHS had decided to give April one last chance. (Mind you this child has had several "One Last Chances". They asked if we would allow her back in our home. Making me think we had a choice about this.

Much to my surprise....the door bell rang yesterday (less than 24 hours that we had been told we had to make the decision) and it was April. All smiles and saying "Mom I'm home."

I love my daughter and I am happy they... more

The court room was quiet until the bailiff's voice sounded "All rise." Then the Judge came in and sat down. We were all told to be seated.

April sat in front of us with her attorney. The Judge addressed the issues of the bench trial. April's attorney made her plea. April was asked to plead guilty to drunken and disorderly conduct with use of alcohol by a minor. Instead of resisting arrest.

In the last court hearing April had been placed into the custody of the DHS but allowed to stay in our home until this court date.

Like most teens she thought they would give her a fine and some community service and probation. Then she would be out the door and off to her... more

As many of you know, my middle daughter April got into more trouble and the juvenile court decided to turn custody of her over to DHS.

We have been waiting for the worker to call us. We left her a few messages and she recently got back with us.

In the meantime April got scared and she ran away again. One morning I woke up and found her standing in the yard. We told her to come in and she sat with us and talked. (My husband slipped into the other room and called the police since we had reported her as a runaway.)

The police never showed up. April told us she was leaving the state and never coming back again. She had not had her medications for her bipolar disorder... more

Recently our Community Mental Health Team began a new program called RapAround. It is designed to help prevent Children from being taken and place into Out Of Home Placement Centers.

They assign a case worker to each family. Then the family and the case worker meets and they discuss picking support people to help them work as a team.

Once a week the case worker meets with the team and everyone works on rules and consequences that will help work out the problems the family are facing with the teen in risk.

Both the child and the parents pick a person they feel comfortable with to work as their support person. If the child does not have someone they feel comfortable... more

Sometimes you get in over your head and you have tried everything and nothing seems to work. What do you do? Well my mom always taught me to pray. So down on my knees I go again.

We had our second court date for my middle daughter April. She is 16 and 1/2 years old. We have been struggling to raise her since she was 5. We have had her in therapy and every type of counseling there is to find. She is on medication now for Bipolar Disorder. She is diagnosed with ODD also.

We looked today at her court record and it was four pages long. It included assault and possession of tobacco and alcohol, along with a list of other charges.

When we went before the Judge today,... more

The county we live in is a little outdated in a lot of things. One of the biggest issues is programs for emotionally challenged children. So it is not hard to believe that the juvenile court system is just as prehistoric.

I have had the dubious pleasure of sitting in on a few of the hearings for children and families who have not been able to keep up with court fees and mandated payments. The Judge has no respect at all for anyone. He makes each parent feel like they are bottom of the bucket. It does not matter if it is Christmas and the family has three other children to look out for, or if it is a single mom raising a family on her own.

I watched as a social worker tried... more

We entered the court room not knowing what to expect. April had gotten in to a fight on the school bus a couple of months prior to this court date. Two sisters had jumped on April (who weighed all of 96 .lbs. soaking wet). April fought back, tossing the smaller sister (more her size) off of her and tried to hold her own with the other sister (200 lbs.) It was unfortunate but the smaller sister fell when April pushed her off of her and she broke her arm. The parents tried to sue us but had no case. The fight had been started by their children. However April was brought in front of the probation Judge and we expected that she might get probation or community... more