This posting is left blank as a placeholder for those Texas Legislators who have not yet submitted statements of positive ideas and actions for children with disabilities for the Nightlight Report.
Statements are welcome from Legislators anytime and will be added to the Report when received.
People may choose to enter comments on this posting if their Legislator did not submit a statement for the Report.
2 comments:
Both my Senator and Representative have both chosen not to respond to the request for comments for the Nightlight Report. Senator Nelson and Representative Geren represent me. Senator Nelson is the chair of the HHC Committee.
My name Michelle Dooley and I have a 26 yr. old son Morgan that lives in Denton in a HCS group home. He has been there now almost 8 years. Morgan lived at home until he was 16. He is 6’2 and a very big man. He was exhibiting behaviors that landed him in the North Texas State Hospital . He hurt me and was so out of control that the police broke down my door to get to him. I had locked myself in my closet until I heard the police coming down my hall and I could hear them calking their guns. I jumped out of the closet and met them to let them know Morgan did not have control of his actions. I was crying please don’t shoot my son. I was taken to the hospital and Morgan was taken to JPS Hospital. He stayed there for about 2 weeks and then he moved to North Texas State Hospital . I followed the police car that took him there and did his intake. His Dad meets me there and we were told we were the first divorced parents to do this together. We both love our son very much. This was the first time Morgan had ever been away from home.
This starts a long journey from this time on. I went to see him every weekend he was there and he stayed for 4 months. He had been and the waiting list for his HCS slot and I knew as soon as he was admitted to ask for his slot and he got it. I picked a provider in Tarrant County for home services. The night before I was to bring him home the director called me to let me know he did not feel like they could serve Morgan. So I went to pick Morgan up to bring him home with no help.
Something was very wrong with him the longer he stayed at home I did get a provider but Morgan just was not doing well. He could not sleep and he wanted to be on the move all the time. Later I found out he had Post Traumatic Syndrome. I was still having a hard time with him.
This is when my local MHMR Center tells me that Austin State School could take Morgan for a short time. He was there for 3 months were he would not get out of bed for most of the time. I went down there and went to eat with him and they gave everyone spoons to eat with. The furniture was bolted to the floor and it was just very sad.
I found the only provider that would take Morgan coming out of Austin S.S. The placement was not good at all. That is the beauties of Community you have the choice to change. That is when we found a provider in Denton . I talk to Morgan everyday and I see him almost every week. He goes to Austin with me to advocate for himself. He has no speech but boy he gets his message across. He loves to go to the movies and out to eat. He rides at Sprit Horse and has been riding 3 years now. He goes to the park and he loves Six Flags and has gone there most his life. Morgan has always lived in his community and he wants to stay there. I believe that this is evident as his level of need (9) decreased to a (5) once in a home he felt safe in.
This site offers an excellent opportunity for us to learn about our congressmen and women's feelings even if there they cannot express a committment to help. Absence of any expression, as always, speaks loudly to those of us who measure expectations of Texas elected leaders based on handling difficult issues that profoundly impact Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilties.
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