help!!

[pRoudmommy2014]

as a mom of a high needs special little girl it is super frustrating when others think they know when they really don't.. i had yet another visit from CPS today .. for giving her thc?! no! cbg, cbn, cbd? yes .. am i in danger of losing my girl?! what are my rights?? they asked me to bring her to the office .. they have never done that before. please help!!! 😔😢😔😢

[18wise]

A visit with CPS I believe is very frightful.

Try to stay calm, keep a diary and log by date, time and summary of conversation & facts.

My experience is that an investigation is done with the parents and visits at school with the student to see if CPS will close the case or continue.

CPS should have provided a card with their contact info so that you can contact the person with any concerns.

It all takes weeks before you may receive an update.

Usually to get info of what is in the CPS file you must go to the Court House and request copies of the records and maybe pay doc fees.

For your sake document meds given, frequency, and other important details.

If pediatrician recommended CBD etc you may want to include that info/support as well.

peace to you & your family

[pRoudmommy2014 in reply to 18wise]

Thank you! It is very scary. If I lose her .. *deep breath* .. I have no other reason to....

[Hidden]

As others said- don’t panic. Take someone with you- a friend, a family member or maybe there is some charity in your area like mentoring, someone who could go there with you. If you don’t have evidence that the doctor prescribed/ recommended this to your daughter, then don’t insist that it was good giving it to her. Be apologetic and say you didn’t know it’s not allowed as on Internet chats you heard from other parents giving it etc. Just say you won’t do it again and ask if you could have more training/coaching for parents how to deal with your daughter’s challenging behaviours/hyperactivity. Tell them that in your opinion your daughter’s prescribed meds don’t manage her symptoms and you are left to deal with it and that all you ask is help from them. Don’t attack them- even if they really wind you up. They might just put you under some supervision for a while? Like some social worker coming to your house checking on you. Don’t imagine the worst scenario.

Is your daughter diagnosed with ADHD? Is she on prescribed medication? All I’d say, if you felt you needed to give her something else on top of prescribed meds, it means that her doctor hasn’t managed to give her the right medication to control her symptoms. Is your daughter on stimulants (controlled meds) for her ADHD? Usually this is not very good choice for young children as medication has to get out of the system daily and it coincides with time when child is back from school and at home so you have to deal with ‘come downs’ when a child is suffering. You need to ask her doctor to give her something that works 24/7. Tell doctor whether she is able to take whole capsules without having to open them and have with apple sauce etc. Some ADHD meds have to be taken whole so then obviously no point if she can’t take the whole capsule/tablet. There is a good range of non stimulant (not controlled) ADHD meds which also have sedating effect on some kids. Maybe that’s what you need to ask the doctor. Also some doctors prescribe antihistamines for children to calm them a bit. You just need to ask your doctor and only give her what doctor says. From now on don’t give your daughter anything that you haven’t discussed with her doctor as you will be now probably more under observation and they will be checking what you give her. Hope it turns out not as scary as you think, maybe it will turn to be a good thing as they will give you some coaching for parents and more support/training how to deal with parenting your daughter.

[MomOfSuperheroes in reply to Hidden]

I have nothing constructive to add except to say that the advice I've seen here sounds good to me, and I hope it turns out okay.A side note on stimulants - My child has been on an extended-release stimulant med for years and is thriving, but it took a couple months of tweaking to get to the right dose. I guess it all depends on the child's specific body and needs. If you aren't happy with the treatment that your child's prescriber has laid out, I'd definitely ask for a change.

[Hidden in reply to MomOfSuperheroes]

Exactly, I think that’s the issue when parents don’t ask for change when they think something doesn’t work for their child.

I have had this forum here throughout my son’s transition from stimulants to non stimulants. When we ditched stimulants and he was started on Atomoxetine I waa very worried as sooo many parents here were replying that Atomoxetine didn’t work for their child as it was causing severe side effects, for some children even medication induced mania episodes. Equally then there were parents saying the same about Guanfacine- that it didn’t work for their child. And also there were parents who said that they found equilibrium for their children by having both stimulant and non stimulant prescribed and administered at different times of day. That’s the beauty of this forum- that we can learn all this from other parents.

[SurvivorFan in reply to Hidden]

Off topic, but I really think you should not be telling parents what adhd medications or (or any for that matter) that they should or should not give their children. Spreading misinformation is a big problem. Many MANY parents have success with giving their children stimulants at a young age. I understand completely that some do not which may have been your experience. We all need to be careful to provide support to one another and give our experiences only.

[Hidden in reply to SurvivorFan]

There is a freedom of speech and I always say that whatever I say I only say it as a parent from my son’s experience and as someone who knows other parents with children with ADHD and what their experience was.

It is worth noting that countries such as Japan and China already have changed their ‘best practice recommendations’ and both those countries have guideline that both stimulants and non stimulant (Atomoxetine) can be ‘first line of treatment’ so they ditched the paradigm which let’s say still is held in the UK that ‘stimulants are first line of treatment’. Medical practitioner such as psychiatrist or paediatrician is the one who at the end of the day will prescribe the child and this is the professional who parents should listen to. And not a mother of a child with ADHD who writes on Internet chats about her experience!

[SurvivorFan in reply to Hidden]

Of course there is freedom of speech. All I was saying is that we all need to be mindful of how we say things. In your original post you did NOT say in my experience..you said usually stimulants are not a good option for young children. Truly not being confrontational here, just trying to say we have to be careful of how we say things. I'm sure your intentions were purely trying to be helpful. My concern is if a new parent struggling reads a comment like that and it steers them away from trying something that could be what actually does work for their child.

[Hidden in reply to SurvivorFan]

Totally on it with you, English is my second language and sometimes it comes out not as I intended! Also my ADHD which I am choosing not to medicate is not helping 😄If anything you can get me being confrontational - typical ADHD trait, not meaning it but p… everyone off (that’s a British phrase and I don’t know if it works the same in US😉).

Still I think parents should be braver not settling in on ‘first line’ of treatment etc or getting discouraged when let’s say ‘second try’ still doesn’t work. If we don’t test the second, how do we actually know that the first is the best the child can get. I mean in my son’s case ‘first line of treatment’ was a true nightmare for him- at 8 he started wetting himself, he started pulling skin off his fingers so badly that he had wounds, he couldn’t sleep and he couldn’t eat, he had pressure of speech and was generally disordered and hyper focused but on things that he shouldn’t be focused. He also was not able to carry on a full day of activities so basically after school he was a mess and later on I found out from his scores at school that at school he was a mess too but teachers weren’t telling me.

I think regardless of what first medication parents chose, all I am saying that if it feels to parents that it doesn’t work, then probably it doesn’t work. And then try something else.

[pRoudmommy2014 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for all of this!! We have tried several medications (currently straterra and clonodine) but none have worked. Both psychs and pedi have said while they cannnot advise either way, I am her mom and can try any methods I see fit. Problem is that we still don't know a lot of what is going on with her. And services are limited. I just don't know what to do 😢

[Hidden in reply to pRoudmommy2014]

I am sorry meds she is on don’t work. I noticed many times when parents say that they don’t know what’s going on, some kind of Occupational Therapy input may help. Sensory processing issues (sensory integration) is not only limited to people with ASD. Some people with ADHD also suffer from various sensory issues, sensory overloading… It’s worth looking at it, weighted blankets, body sock, hammock, etc. It all can help to calm kids. In my house both my kids, not only the ADHD kid, have a wobbly cushion to sit on and it really does help them.

[pRoudmommy2014 in reply to Hidden]

My little girl is .. well, a unique one .. and does not fit into any of the predetermined boxes. It is hard to explain everything in a post.