My stepdaughter, who suffers from a degenerative disease, will shortly be starting at a residential school on a 52 week placement. She has already been away from home since February at a secure psych unit. We cannot wait for her to move as she has significant medical needs that the psych unit is struggling to support. Also, contact is very stressful in a locked ward environment, particularly for her siblings.
I suppose though my questions are how do other parents cope with the fact that they don't have their children living at home with them? My poor husband is wracked with guilt. Everyone is agreed that we cannot cope with her at home but we still feel feeble for not managing it. How much contact do you have with your kids? At the moment we see her twice a week and speak every day on the phone. When she moves, I expect the daily phone contact to continue but she will be a 90 minute drive away and we don't think it would be fair on the other kids to visit her every weekend. Not just that, but we all find the visits hard work and feel like it would take over every weekend to go. But what sort of people don't want to see their child as often as possible?
Sorry, this is very rambling. But I'd love to hear from others who have faced this situation, and how you cope.
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4 replies
StiffyByng · 20/04/2013 23:18
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