Selena's Story - Part Three

We waited eight long months. This time away from Selena left us unsettled. We had no say, no control over the medications or services being rendered. We began to hear about new behaviors that were worse than the behaviors she came in the door with. It seemed that she was learning new bad behaviors, instead of working on fixing her emotional health. We were moving ahead very cautiously because we knew there were no guarantees with the foster care system.

We were participating in all of the services we could. Family therapy, monthly treatment meetings and visitation. We would bring milk shakes on days where behaviors were good, and play games and color. We left a basket of activities in our car to have on hand for visitations. We couldn't give anymore than we were giving. We still were not allowed to have the behind the scenes notes of her care and could not make any decisions about the services rendered.

Selena turned ten while in the center, a very hard birthday as she was not able to have a party and she was not allowed to see all of the family, but we managed to give her a little something to remember the big 10.

Finally, we gave the ultimatum, that either she is to be discharged immediately or we would no longer continue to provide support or allow Selena to return to our home. After many tiring conversations with the powers at be it was decided that Selena would be discharged and return to our home. We decided she would receive behavioral services at home and begin to rebuild her life with new memories of love, joy, and peace. The first few months were rocky; however, as we approached 6 months in we began to see some light at the end of this long tunnel. We were finding a new normal and her cup was being filled with hope, love, and the knowledge that God loves her and is caring for her.