Category: Let's talk
How do you guys feel about group homes? My friend is blind and autistic and has to live in one. I personally would rather die than live in one. Have any of you guys ever visited one before? If so, what was it like?
i lived in one for almost a year and a bit but it wasn't those homes for autistic people or anything. it was more like a foster home for at risk/troubled youths ran by child and youth workers, a bitchy supervisor and a weekly visit with a psychiatrist for those the CYWS felt needed it. all the houses in that agency had up to 10 teens. It was more like a jail because you had to work toards getting privs like carrying your own money, having a curfew, even being anywhere in the house without supervision, and visits with family and friends. most of the other kids were there for drug problems, neglectful families, rape, disorders like OCD, ADD, bipolar, depression, problems with the law, whatever. I got kicked out finally cuz i went a wall, and almost got arrested for aiding and abedding and other stuff, but it worked out for the best because i ended up in a very loving foster home and back to my dad when he finally stepped up for custody because my mom was and still is psychotic and wasn't really in contact with any family who were willing to take me because i used to be really bad before i changed my life around. that place didn't help me one bit, i got better in school and everything else when i went into foster care. i did however make really good friends, and some of the cyws were really cool, but still..i guess it all depends on the person and what their needs are. I went into it by force but what they really should have done was put me in foster care until my dad was able to get his act together, but the system is messed..unfortunately i was too young at the time to make a decission about what would have been best and the case workers were dumb because it was only after i got kicked out is when they decided they shouldn't have put me there. sorry for the ramble but yeah, group homes suck when you don't actually have to be there. i went in volunteeringly but blindly because i thaught i'd at least get a bit more freedom than i had there, and i thaught it'd pretty much be like a foster home but it wasn't, but once your in, it takes a lot of legal and not legal stuff to get out. I unfortunately instead of going through meetings and paperwork and court, and psychiatrists and case workers and..yeah you get the picture, made them have to make me leave by doing stuff to get kicked out and although it was risky, because i could have ended up in a detention center or something, it worked out for the best.
I've read a story written by someone that has, actually a few and I heard it's hell.