Sarasota, Florida – After the winter holiday week my son with autism spent with me, Chris greeted his group home manager, Bianca, with a kiss on each of her cheeks and one on her forehead. My Chris is a tall, lean 20 year old who has always had an ability to climb, balance, and jump that many young YouTube par core wannabes would love to possess.
I am a single and only parent to my son and his physical ability became unsafe for me to manage alone at home by myself. We tried a multitude of caregivers to help at home but the dramatic and unsafe scenarios with each caregiver was exhausting: caregivers stole from me, took my checks and signed my name on them, sexually harassed me, failed to show up frequently jeopardizing my career as a teacher, etc.
Chris has a lot of learning and behavioral issues but is much able to be managed with a consistent schedule, expectations, follow through with behavior plan, and love and patience.
Chris has progressed with his targeted behavior and independent functioning goals since he has been with his current group home.
It is absolutely unacceptable that the caregivers that have worked with my son make such low wages. The job of working with people with disabilities and their families is undeniably hard. I will do anything I can to support higher wages for caregivers!