Our Family's Hopes and Dreams

My mom has not helped me with writing my blog for months. Being busy is not the only reason for it. She has been hesitant in writing about our future plan because she does not want to cause anxiety or alarm to my roommate's families and to the staff at my group home. I have mentioned about building a house in my previous blog. This new home will be for our entire family, which includes me. Our family will have to sell our current residence. That means my roommates will need to move and my moving out of the group home will affect the staffing dollars creating job losses. Our plan is now common knowledge, so it is okay to share openly.

My family has observed that I enjoy spending time with them. Also, I learn new skills and use my speech more while being with them. The gains are particularly noticeable when I spend extended periods of time with them. Unfortunately these gains are not sustained after I return to my group home setting. Moving back to my family home is going to benefit me significantly. Our goal is for me to lead a more inclusive and meaningful life.

Today, my family met with my PDD (Persons with Developmental Disabilities) Community Support Coordinator to submit a funding application for hiring my support staff. There are a few not so positive possibilities. I may not be able to access my current approved funding from my service provider. Even if I can, it will only be a small portion of my support dollars. As a result, my application will be for "new" dollars, rather than transferring my current funding to support me at a different location. If PDD does not have available funds at this time, I will have to wait. If my family chooses to take me out of the group home without approved funding, they will need to take care of me until funding comes through. I am not considered to be in an emergency situation, so my application will not be viewed as priority.

At this time, we do not know whether funding will be approved or not, and how long it will take. My mom will not be able to sell our current home until funding is approved because she does not want to move me twice causing additional disruptions to my life. In such case, my family will need to pay for two mortgages.