I have been raising my nonverbal autistic grandson and his bipolar brother since the one was 2 years old and the latter 5 years old.  My daughter had a breakdown and was not able to deal with them since she has her own disorders to deal with.  My husband and I took turns watching our grandson as he slept very little during those days.  We were like a tag team with one sleeping while the other was watching.  I could no longer keep up my antique and collectible business because I had no one to leave this child with.

Over the past 12 years we have had to modify our home and yard to accommodate this child with reverse locks on the door going outside to keep him from “eloping” (running off); locks on the refrigerator and freezer and food cupboards to keep him from getting in and playing with the food; a lock on the cabinet under the kitchen sink to keep him from pulling the plumbing out; plumbers tape around the toilet tank to keep him from removing its vital parts and the list goes on.
He is 14 now, over 200 lbs. and over 6 feet tall. He will still leave at any given moment and we never know when that will be. Most of our police force knows him or about him and most of our neighbors in a three block radius know him. How would you feel if a strange young man just walked into your home and politely sat down or started checking out your rooms?  It would sure scare me!

Is there any local group home that can accommodate him?  Nope!  Our yards have fences with locks and even then someone has to be with him.  Most group homes have a constant turnover without having the training to deal with nonverbal clients. That is just one reason we try and keep our children at home as long as possible. This is a 24 hour/7 days a week job but we do it because we love him.

I cannot take an outside job any more because my time is taken with caring for this young man.  It sure would cost the state a lot more to place this grandson somewhere else with people that do not love him or understand him.

Some in government think they can balance the budget on the backs of the disabled but if they would just clean up the corruption in government we would not be in this mess.

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