This is the actual text of a letter we wrote to our attorney in May 2000. It was to share my thoughts about various thing going on at the time. As always, individual names have been changed.

“May 3, 2000

Dear Attorney:

I hope this letter finds you well. Enclosed in this fax you will find the latest letter from St. Francis Care Behavioral Health to the Case Worker at DCF. In my opinion, the contents of this letter would indicate that our son does not need to be in a group home situation. Therefore, I would hope that my husband and I would not have to go and visit High Meadows, since the hospital’s official stance is that they are not vacillating about our son’s placement. Would you mind calling their attorney and seeing if this letter changes anything?

I have also enclosed the email I sent to the person who is DCF’s paralegal regarding a time when both my husband and I can visit High Meadows. I have not received a response from this individual as of this moment.

Here are the points I wanted to bring up to you on the phone yesterday:

An administrator from the Devereux-Glenholme School told me that it will cost approximately $144.00/day at Devereux-Glenholme for our son, (if DCF pays for it), and that it would cost DCF approximately $400.00/day for our son at High Meadows. I think this is interesting, because it frankly doesn’t make sense to me at all! But this may be a moot point if we don’t have to look at High Meadows now.

Also, I believe that DCF should have taken this issue to the Probate Court, and not a hearing, to decide this — I might be wrong, but everyone I talk to at different advocacy agencies asks me right away if this has been heard in Probate Court. I have never heard any mention of Probate Court in any manner of speaking, but I know it is an important component to the Voluntary Services Program. My limited understanding of their role is that they are sort of the over-arching body regarding the decisions made for a minor in the Voluntary Services Program.

Additionally, there may be another tack we can try. If this doesn’t work out with DCF, then maybe we should make an attempt with the School Board of Education to pay for our son to be schooled at Devereux-Glenholme. They have always been very willing to pay for any of our son’s educational services, because they understand fully that he is not able to attend public school. Maybe they would be willing to pick up the entire bill? Just a thought.

I will be waiting to hear from you soon, and I’m sorry we keep playing phone tag!

Thanks for your patience!

Warm Regards,”

I am sharing these letters to give some insight into what is going from a parent’s perspective. Hopefully they will allow for some insight for others when going through similar situations.

Comments and questions are welcome.