Schools…
I don’t think I’ve mentioned before, but my mother works at a school for…challanging…children. By this I mean she works at a school that is funded by the state for children who have behavioral issues. A lot of times these kids are not that bad - they just are in a school where the teachers are overworked and do not want to deal with any difficulties.
This school uses a type of “respite”. Whenever a child acts up to the point that they have to be asked to leave school, a person comes, picks them up, and takes them away until school ends, when they bring them back to greet the bus.
It looks like I am going to be one of the respite providers.
We’ve discussed it for a long time, but they already had 2 homes and really didn’t need a third. As it turns out, one of the homes is full up with children and the other has a sex offender living in it, so they are not a viable option. We are! I am kind of excited about this as it’s something I haven’t done before - and at the same time I’m a bit nervous because - well - it’s something I haven’t done before.
Knowing that I could have a child come into my home that is a bit wild is intimidating. But I truly believe that all children are good children, and that you can bring the good out of them with the right work and incentives.
An interesting thing to note - not that it has anything to do with the discussion, but almost all of the children at the school are male - why is that, I wonder?
June 8th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Congratulations on becoming a respite home. I work in a community where many students have been overlooked by protective services. The kids flit from house to house, never really having a home. Their parents are too busy to raise them…to busy finding the next score or their next baby’s daddy or baby’s momma.
If more people were willing to open up there homes and give these children even a glimpse of what a normal life is like, they may be more inclined to utilize the education that could help them step out of a cylce that most are destined to follow.
Good luck!
June 8th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Thank you Jonathan!
The paperwork officially came through today - so we can be called anytime to take a child from the school who is having a difficult day.