Funding

I know some of you are interested in how Ryan is doing and I wanted to share a quick update.

Toward the end of last week we got a pretty positive report. The supervisor from the day program told Dave that he is definitely doing better. They still have challenges with him, but he seems to be settling in a bit and the episodes of aggression have decreased.

We got a similar report from the house he'll be moving into and yesterday I was told by the house supervisor that he was actually walking around the house with a big smile on his face Friday afternoon. We haven't seen him smile much over the last couple of years, so that was really good to hear. Again, they are still having some challenges with him, but they are really working hard to find ways of making his life better. It's a nice change.

In order for Ryan to become an official client of the new agency, the state has to approve the switch of funding from the current agency. We received a letter in the mail yesterday stating that the funding switch has been approved. The new agency has to contact the state and provide them with some information, but once that has been done we are 'set to go.' I spoke with my contact at the new agency and we have decided that we will increase the visits this week and increase them again next with with an official move-in the following week.

While it's nice to finally see light at the end of the tunnel, I'm still having a difficult time feeling comfortable with everything. Having his current agency terminate services is still too fresh in my mind and I keep waiting for the new agency to tell us that it's not working out. Dave actually shared our concern that when they called us into the meeting a couple weeks ago, it was to tell us that it wasn't working out. They immediately responded, 'no.' I believe they understand that Ryan is going to need quite a bit of time to adjust, make changes, and settle in. However, I think I'm also going to need quite a bit of time to adjust, make changes, and settle in. If this experience has done nothing else, it's certainly caused Dave and I to become much stronger advocates for Ryan. Everyone better watch out now!!!!