RandomUserNameXO t1_j60kr3b wrote on January 26, 2023 at 9:26 PM

As a former CASA and close friend to many foster parents, I got to the level of “I can’t even”… and I didn’t deal with nearly the case load case workers have.

IIRC Ribsam was thought to be the breathe of fresh air this department needed but in the years since it seems worse.

My specific question is how does the department justify ER placement of kids in their custody? There have been several cases I know of in which a child is dropped off at an ER by a parent who can no longer handle them, CHIPS doesn’t seem to work, and now there is no where else to put them…. And the kid sits in an ED for weeks if not longer.

twawawayyy OP t1_j60m12j wrote on January 26, 2023 at 9:34 PM

Lol nobody can justify it. Everyone hates doing it. That's less about DCYF and more about the whole state. Any child with severe mental health issues is going to sit in the ER for weeks because there are no beds for kids anywhere. And they can only stay there if the hospital says they're a risk to themselves or others. Believe me, I've had the hospital kick kids out with nowhere to go after hours because they changed their mind and decided they're not a risk any more.

RandomUserNameXO t1_j61ftgc wrote on January 27, 2023 at 12:57 AM

Well here’s the thing- some of these kids are not being held there for placement to Hampstead. They have been cleared by the ED doc and the psychiatrist, but then mom or dad or foster family don’t want them back. So they sit there under a “social work hold” bed until DCYF finds them placement.

I speak of this being a first hand person involved in an ED. So the situation isn’t just waiting for a mental health bed because it’s been established they don’t need one. If this were an adult patient we just discharge them to the street, but we can not do that to a minor.

nopenottodaybitch t1_j6257ui wrote on January 27, 2023 at 4:12 AM

What can the community do to help? Your story is too heartbreaking to not help. I'm a mother of 2 young children, I couldn't imagine what these children are going through when their parents do not stay by their side or come back for them in the ER.

Is there any way you can get this story on wmur? That would bring so much awareness. I had no idea of this! Here I am wondering why my son is on waitlist for therapy for a year for silly stupid shit like not brushing his teeth, and to know kids are actually being left alone at ER ....devastating. get on wmur for this. You may think its an uphill battle but trust me, people will respond in masses. And that's what the state needs to see in order to make changes.

twawawayyy OP t1_j61gssd wrote on January 27, 2023 at 1:04 AM

Interesting! I haven't had that experience before, I didn't know a "social work hold" existed (and your local dcyf probably doesn't realize either-- don't tell them!) Please know that no one wants this. I had a nonverbal autistic child who had been in my care for over 5 years (I visit them now that I'm out.) Once an ER staff asked "do you realize you have a child sitting here in the ER?!?" It was horrific for me. Of course I knew. I'd been acting as that child's legal guardian for years. I was the closest thing they had to family in the world. Of course I was doing everything, frantically, calling everywhere that existed. The idea that someone somehow thought I didn't care.... it was actually the beginning of the end of my career there. I couldn't bear it. A year before I left.