Looking to relocate son with developmental disabilities

[Jayhawk]

Good morning all!

My wife and I (ages 54 and 53, respectively) are the parents of a 25 year old man with Autism. Incidentally, my wife, "she who must be obeyed..." is an RN.

We have been doing everything we can to place Sean in an appropriate residential program in New Jersey, but after a failed placement through the NJ Department of Developmental Disabilities and a great deal of anxiety and stress on our parts, we are now considering an alternative strategy in order to secure a happy, healthy, and safe future for Sean.

We have learned from other parents as well as Sean's attorney that Minnesota and Wisconsin are very progressive in the field of developmental disabilities and we are now considering whether or not it is feasible to relocate. We're not "locked in" in terms of Minnesota and/or Wisconsin, and we figured that if anyone was in a position to comment about opportunities elsewhere in the US, a nurse specializing in the field of developmental disabilities would be the person to start with.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

[witchypoo]

jayhawk

i feel and understand your fustration, i'm building my own group home for my son outside of cooperstown new york, he is 17 he has laurence moon bardet biedle syndrome with autistic tendencies. If i learned nothing from my aunt's mistakes with my cousin it was to plan for the future of my handicapped child, I won't be here forever. she didn't and when she became ill he was place in a emergency facility over 200miles from his friends and family, he was abused and became violent, it took us months to get him home. I will not let this happen to my child or anyones elses. right now the area where i own my property doesn't have the greatest services, for socialization or many job placements outside of wall mart, but i have ridden my broom with distinction before and i am loud. i'll build jobs services if i have to, and cry to every church group and vfw so they'll lend us their hall for dances and workshops, i'll work on charities since i do not trust the availabilities of goverment funding, I am not rich but i have been working on my plans since joey was diagnosed in 93 in that time I have purchased the house and land, slowl renovating the house we were going to have wind turbines but the town made that impossible so that income dried up. we can always build a few more house and rent them out to baseball fans for income. I'm not afraid of working hard and will continue to do so, so my child had the best i can give him.

[debrncddn]

Have you looked at The Center for Discovery in Harris, New York. It is a nature based, educational and residential setting for children and adults with DD. A new autism campus is opening soon. Check out the web site as this place is incredible.

[prmenrs, RN]

Opening post is dated Jan 2005. Just an FYI...