Special Needs Children in BC

[Queen K]

Why are group homes horrible?

I know that the group homes in Kelowna for special needs adults and for mental health alike are both wonderful.

Maybe a new approach had to be made.

[Donald G]

by ohgeeze » 26 minutes ago

I suppose that that would depend on which of the hundreds of physical and mental conditions you consider to be "special needs".
What experience I did have was centered around home or school settings in the area of abused children and drug related disabilities. Close association with teachers, aids, human resource workers and school counselors.


Donald...this has nothing to do with children who are born with mental or physical disabilities.

Your comment begs the question; Why would you separate children born with disabilities from those who develop disabilities after birth ?? Could it be that you do not recognize children with debilitating CURABLE problems from those with life long special needs ??

EVERY police officer, as a Canadian citizen, has a right to be personally for or against anything. Not one cop I ever met agrees with everything everyone happens to think. The key is to follow the law and do what is morally right, whatever that means. The cops you identify are no different although you would apparently like to think that they are simply because they apparently agree with you on this issue.

[Donald G]

by Queen K » 6 minutes ago

Why are group homes horrible?

I know that the group homes in Kelowna for special needs adults and for mental health alike are both wonderful.

Maybe a new approach had to be made.

I fully agree with both of your last posts. It sounds like you have "been there - done that" in the real world. We spent eleven years caring for a quadriplegic adult 24 hours per day at home because it was a family responsibility and you are right that paid relief is needed if the "care givers" are to maintain their physical and mental health.

GROUP part time facilities are the least expensive. One to one care givers are IMO unaffordable, given the numbers involved.

[ohgeeze]

Your comment begs the question; Why would you separate children born with disabilities from those who develop disabilities after birth ?? Could it be that you do not recognize children with debilitating CURABLE problems from those with life long special needs ??

EVERY police officer, as a Canadian citizen, has a right to be personally for or against anything. Not one cop I ever met agrees with everything everyone happens to think. The key is to follow the law and do what is morally right, whatever that means. The cops you identify are no different although you would apparently like to think that they are simply because they apparently agree with you on this issue.

Donald G, you are chasing your tail, going in circles. I never said anything about separating children who are born with a disability to those who become disabled after birth, you did. I can't answer why you would assume that...so let me make myself clear...I have not, nor will I ever compare a child/adult born with a disability to a child/adult who has become disabled after birth.

Donald, are you saying that an officer of the law who deals with domestic abuse with the same group of people over, lets say over a 6 month period where there are drugs and/or alcohol involved, which I know is exhausting and annoying, that the next domestic abuse call that comes in should be treated as "here we go again", "we'll just get through this poop and take a report", while rolling eyes? Again, that is a jaded view.

Now, I have answered your question...please answer mine...what do you suggest we do with children/adults with special needs (born with an intellectual or physical disability or has become disabled intellectually or physically after birth?

[Donald G]

ohgeeze ... See my entry at 8:17 this AM.

We obviously differ on many aspects of what constitutes special needs and what to do about it. Since there is no utopian answer best we leave it at that ... our opinions.

[whatwhat]

Why are group homes horrible?

I know that the group homes in Kelowna for special needs adults and for mental health alike are both wonderful.

Maybe a new approach had to be made.

Group homes and institutions in the past have a horrible history. Luckily, due to the horrible conditions that used to be new regulations and laws are in place for current group homes, and institutions don't really exist anymore.

I currently work for an organization that has group homes for people with mental illness. They group homes have 6 clients, with either 1-2 staff on at a time. The staff to client ratio works perfectly fine since the residents are mostly independent (showering, cleaning, getting around etc).

I can imagine in a group home setting where the residents are less independent (needs help bathing, behavioral issues, needs help feeding themselves etc) they would need a smaller staff to resident ratio for proper care.