Recently, through RF funds, RF was able to purchase
clothes and toiletries for a girl who has suffered a lifetime of
issues. She has now, FINALLY, been placed in a facility that can help her
and RF provided the basics like underwear, toiletries and basic clothes for her
to be admitted. Please read Sierra's
heartbreaking story and know we all work on the RF project to help girls like
her! Attached are recent pictures showing how well Sierra is progressing in her new facility where she has successfully begun learning sign language.
Thanks to you all!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sierra's Story (as written by her DFACS Worker)--
Sierra is 17 years old deaf child in our custody. She has been in our custody for about 4
years. When she was 3 years old, she had spinal meningitis which caused her to
become deaf, but she received cochlear implants at that time which allowed her
to continue to hear; therefore, she never learned American Sign Language.
A couple of years ago, she started having problems with
the cochlear after coming into foster care and eventually lost all
hearing. About 2 years ago, we had her evaluated by several ENT's and a
determination was finally made that her implants were not able to be
repaired. This news was devastating to
Sierra. Sierra also suffers from some
mental health issues and is not able to fully comprehend why her ears can't be
"fixed." Over the past 2
years, she has gone in and out of crisis stabilization and PRTF hospitals as
she has not been able to maintain in a regular foster care setting. Amanda and I began working towards finding
appropriate services for her about 2 years ago and we ran into multiple
roadblocks... she didn't know ASL, there were limited providers who could even
do ASL, placements would not take her due to her special needs and her
behaviors, the school system felt that they were equipped to serve her, but
they truly were not, her behaviors were too much for Atlanta School for the
deaf, and there were no other options in GA, etc.
Amanda and I found the National Deaf Academy (NDA) in Mt.
Dora, FL, but funding was our biggest hurdle.
The school system would not fund the educational piece b/c they felt
they could serve her and DBHDD would not fund the mental health piece without
the school approving the educational piece.
At that time, we got the state office involved and asked (begged) for
some assistance to no avail until last week.
After almost 2 years of going back and forth, they have finally approved
the funding to have her placed at NDA for up to 6 months where she will be
immersed into the deaf population, taught ASL, receive services in ASL, and
have her educational and mental health needs met. We are absolutely thrilled, and we are flying
out on Thursday morning to escort her to FL.
No comments:
Post a Comment