Advocacy Before the Crisis Point
Ms. Ramirez entered the COAC post-adoption program through its Crisis Intervention services. She had adopted four of her grandchildren. When she contacted COAC, her seven and eight year old boys had been suspended from school. She was seeking help to place the boys in foster care. The first thing COAC staff did was provide Ms. Ramirez with educational advocacy and refer the family to an adoption-competent therapist, who re-evaluated the boys’ needs.
Ms. Ramirez later contacted COAC again because her boys’ therapist was no longer treating Medicaid patients. Ms. Ramirez panicked because the boys had only two days of medication left, and she could not find a clinic that would see them immediately. The boys could not attend school without their medication, and she could not risk losing their school placement, and her job.
Within two days a COAC Family Support Coordinator referred Ms. Ramirez to one of our collaborating agencies, and secured a psychiatrist to monitor the boys’ medication and to provide therapy. The Family Support Coordinator provided individual counseling to Ms. Ramirez to assist her with the challenge of working with a new therapist, and to empower her to become proactive in securing needed services before her family problems reached the crisis point.
Ms. Ramirez’s situation has stabilized. Together, she and the boys are working with their therapist to enhance their communication skills.