Dream Teams for Addressing Safety and Support for Care Needs Across the Life Span, young to old and special needs

Once stigma can fade away from needing help for abuse or other serious concerns, more creative and extensive outreach can be done to help All Children, All Caregivers, Parents, Teachers, Bus Drivers and People in the Legal and Social Work Fields prioritze safety for kids...and other adults. How hard can 'doing the right, decent thing' be for those with positions of power.

Maybe it's hard due to hidden alliances (and obvious ones and legacies of power and control over women and kids...) See more on CA Protective Parents Assoc. and CT Protective Parents and more...thanks and okay to PM me on my public FB page with concerns and fake names and such to see what help I can suggest...not legal advice but maybe some resources such as womanslaw.org (which will email back in a 6-10 days) or justanswer.com for legal references (or CT Lawyer Referral Service that costs 35 dollars for a half hour consult...) or legal aid (see 211ct.org) if one qualifies. Don't forget DV resources such as online and RAINN.org or com for other support.

Checking with a dozen agencies and counselors, reading online and seeing what's on youtube could be a primer for many who care but a necessity for those in the thick of it...and yes,things can go on for months and years even after any legal or other 'resolution'. NY state has support for post custody issues (The PEACE program in NY, in CT a similar one in the past was for parents to consider using with mediators and so forth...)

CT Council  on Collaborative Divorce and Medication may be helpful for those who are screened and agree to use the programs they offer...but no guarantees! David Mandel offers a lot of training online and through Safe And Together programs. 

Good luck to all in Caregiving and Helping roles for people of all ages (including themselves...and everyone deserves support and advocacy, hopefully not with a focus on proving themselves right but really finding the needed help for wellness physically, mentally, socially, culturally, with faith and other support groups and ways to network and understand the modern world and many rules and regs everyone should have help understanding along with Their Team (and again for support not harming or bullying others, cheating people out of payment or trying to damage one another in many different ways.) Plenty of room for improvement in the Systems as well as for people along the care spectrum and their support networks (too often very small or wear out with caregiver burnout or logistical concerns, lack of funds or back up and so on...) 

See what help one may find on care.com (but all independent people so use caution, meet in public places and do background checks etc and have others on site when training and so forth...and let's make reasonable respectful ways if transitions or firing someone is needed or desired.

 Some states are 'hire or fire' at will, or quit as desired but there should be clear options and Employee and Employee support offered with phone or online support 24/7 and some game plans for handling typical concerns and good practices for protecting people's privacy, property and have advocacy to make sure people are operating with clarity and capability for decision making by voluntarily checking with medical support, psych and other social worker support and so on even with a few family and friends acting as liasons and tracking things with written dated notes and summaries over a month or more. 

Then planning for a transition for a week or two even if giving some people time off (paid or unpaid as agreed upon) would make sense. Thanks for thinking about the many people who can benefit from us all tuning in and assisting with common sense and covering the basics...Some involuntary stays at a hospital or nursing home to do tests and evaluate someone's needs may be an option (and in some states that can grown to be a month or even a few months of involuntary assessments particularly if one does not seem competent to make decisions for their care and functioning and have not chosen an advocate or Power of Attorney to assist them in doing so.

 Many people over age 65 if they qualify may have free help with managing finances. There may be other supportive services or volunteers or other ways someone could live safely and such at home but if they are becoming forgetful or not aware of what they are doing and do not get assessed there may need to be an intervention of some kind to prevent an accident. Ideally each person would have a few people they trust and would listen to about signs of decline that may be indicative of a medical issue or dementia that could be addressed with a more comprehensive team. 

Once people are in a facility there may need to be approved home support (someone living with them or other care arranged) for them to return home even after a medical procedure if there is any concern about their mental competency or the safety of the home.

Every state and community could help set up Caregiving Response Teams to help people feel supported and aware of the systems and programs (some with funding depending on income guidelines which someone may reach voluntarily or otherwise if needing certain programs.) 

That's where speaking with legal professionals (such as Elder Law Attorneys and others early on and often (seeing ctseniorlaw.com talks for instance on their site) or one for any state one may be open to living in even half of the year (six months and one day) to have the benefits of that state...some of those may kick in after a month or so of living there but others may require having a longer residency of a year so again, planning for options five or ten years Before you need them is ideal...and any change of home or moving even within one's home or area can be challenging, so more people could think of how to assist with those aspects of transitioning. 

In some states, 'money follows the person' so people who are in care facilities may qualify to return to a home setting in the community (living with someone usually) and have funds for their care if they qualify. That's just an overview for more people to look into. Visiting people in a nursing home as a volunteer or helping one person a bit more as a family would allow may help one gain more experience and understanding of what is possible. 

Some places have various levels of care such as independent homes on the same campus as assisted living and full nursing care (and other levels for instance for those with dementia but more physical abilities or strong cognitive function still.) The idea of having personal help in any of those settings is something families, faith and other civic groups may want to explore short-term or longer, especially during times of transition or  at least intermittently to help maintain connection.

Here is the article I meant to share with just a few comments..but children, other family and friends and even pets and the wider community are all affected by an unbalance person who is mistreating others (or even themselves as well.) One out of three times if an abuser takes the lives of their victim(s) they end their own as well, so the seriousness of abuse needs to be considered by all. Others can also be victims, injured or killed, intentionally or otherwise, even someone trying to help prevent something as a stranger witnessing the harm or violence.

 Let's up our game for preventing such difficult spirals of harm and worse as early on as possible. Some people may have undiagnosed issues and others may be stressed and needing more support to get help on many fronts, whether practical due to life issues or more serious ongoing depression or mental health or drug use challenges or being on a spectrum without support to learn or address matters. We are fortunate to be in the modern world and time with online help but more practical systems and people are needed for one and all... thanks for doing what you can and praying for healing on all levels and better systemic functioning