Saving the Whole Child: A Grandmother’S Personal Experiences Living with Teen Grandsons

By Ms. GG

The traditional role for grandparents is to have their grandchildren visit them and to enjoy being spoiled by them before returning to their parents. But in the last few years, many grandparents have found themselves in the parenting role. In Saving the Whole Child, author Ms. GG shares her personal experiences when she became the custodial grandparent of her two identical twin grandsons and the journey that took them from special education to the juvenile justice system.

Saving the Whole Child covers a multitude of transformative experiences that families and caregivers face daily. As an advocate for childrens rights, Ms. GG discusses the difficulty in securing counseling services and overcoming racial and economic disparity to acquire the needed services. She focuses on letting the voices of those in need be heard while never giving up, never being quiet about concerns, and most importantly, always reminding children their disabilities do not define them.

With a thorough additional reading list included, Saving the Whole Child helps parents, caregivers, therapists, and doctors understand the issues children with special needs and their families face daily.

Parents are also given encouragement and inspiration to share their story with others. Our voices can no longer remain silent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532033926

Ms. GG

is the custodial grandmother of twin grandsons. She is devoted to advocacy for children with special needs and has experienced the challenges and negative stigmas families face trying to find needed resources, education, and treatment providers.

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Copyright © 2017 Ms. GG.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-3393-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-3392-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017915035

iUniverse rev. date: 10/04/2017

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

APPENDIX

DEDICATION PAGE

To Families, Parents, and Caregivers

This Book is dedicated to you—We share a life filled with happiness, pain, many tears as well as the Joy we receive when we see positive change in our loved ones no matter how fleeting the moment.

You my dear readers and I share what I call the roller coaster ride of emotions, on a daily basis. Just know, every sacrifice if worth it.

Always remember to

STAY FOCUSED AND STAY STRONG

I EXTEND TO YOU A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT:

PERSEVERE

PREFACE

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Dr. Martin Luther King

The traditional role for grandparents is for the grandchildren to visit, enjoy being spoiled, and then returned to their parents. Imagine my surprise when one day I asked myself, ‘did these children move in and no one told me?’ Sadly, I really wasn’t expecting a call. Quickly, I found myself the Custodial Grandparent to two identical twin grandsons. This title was given to me by a Family Court Judge.

Becoming a caregiver for my grandsons who both have the diagnosis: Attention Deficient – ADHD, Oppositional Defiance, Emotional Disturbance, Autism Spectrum as well as several mood disorders was tough. I love my grandsons and I am dedicated to do everything necessary to see that they are well taken care of, but most importantly—they will feel loved.

There was no doubt in my mind that I would need to become an advocate for my grandsons. Blinded by the enormous task of parenting special needs children, I was overwhelmed. Equipped with a little information but many unanswered questions, I began my search to find the needed information for my boys. There had to be information out there but finding it proved to be a big fat headache.

On the positive side, I’ve learned from families and caregivers that we have similar situations and various diagnosis’. This means we are dealing with the same issues—securing the needed help to save our children. This was not only comforting but also encouraging because I didn’t feel like I was alone in this battle. The decision was then made to share my experiences in a book form for several reasons.

First, through research I found that there are many resources available, but for some reason this information is difficult to acquire. Secondly, there are a vast number of situations or incidents that my grandsons encounter that leave me puzzled. Children’s mental health issues are a daily part of our lives. There isn’t a day that passes where an outburst at school, on the playground, or even at church that something happens.

As their guardian, it is then left on me to fix their multitude of problems that involve them. On numerous occasions, I have found myself in situations feeling helpless. Because I had no idea of the seriousness, nor had I accepted the fact that I needed help—I didn’t know where to