Work has been going well. I am finally making the slow transition into skincare. First day was Saturday and I didn’t get overwhelmed… which impressed everyone since it was also the day before Easter.
We had a visit from CPS regarding S’s bulls**t claim that Cori pushed him (S is the kid that Cori watches for work–he has severe ADHD and a bit of a social disability). I listened in a bit… eventually she said something along the lines of, given Cori’s lack of previous incidents, the fact he has worked with the company (and the kid) for awhile, no history of substance abuse or anything like that, S doesn’t exhibit any fear of Cori, the whole family wants Cori to come back, he’s in grad school for counseling, he didn’t deny that he probably should have handled S’s tantrum in a different way, and he’s done a lot of volunteer work up in MN with Big Brothers Big Sisters, she imagines the claim will be unsubstantiated and he will most likely be able to continue work, but she stressed it was no guarantee.
Seriously though. Oh, forgot to mention–she didn’t know that he wasn’t working at all. She assumed he was on paid leave or was put with someone who didn’t have violent tendencies. He hasn’t been working since the end of February. But she said if it was substantiated (which sounds like there’s no way it can be), it would go on a permanent record so if he basically worked with kids ever again, the employer could look at this and decide to pass him over. It eats away at me because it sounds akin to being a sex offender (except it’s called something like “previous allegation of child abuse”). All that’s going on here is S claimed Cori pushed him into a wall and cut his lip. His brother says S threw a tantrum and cut his own lip. Cori admits he put his arm up because S was running at him, but this was after trying to restrain S and after S was getting into a fight with both his brother and stepfather and throwing D-batteries at their heads.
Which brings me to another point… when Cori said his stepfather slapped S in the face when he got out of control, the caseworker asked a billion questions. “Have there been other incidents ? Does he do this often ? Was it hard ? Did it leave a mark ?” And it made me think… this kid is 14. He needs round-the-clock supervision because his only instinct when he’s angry or frustrated is to punch people and scream and yell. He’s got a social disability but he goes to normal school and is in normal classes. He’s also completely unmedicated. Not that I’m an advocate for immediately medicating, but I think he’s a case where medication is a sound and logical option. I was spanked all the time as a child (I deserved it) and I turned out okay. On the other hand, Cori was freaking full-out physically abused by his father until he was 9, and where was CPS then ? It just angers me.
Plus the fact that we damn near had bedbugs because of this kid, and Cori comes home with new marks and bruises from S punching and kicking him. So the idea that this kid could cost Cori his job AND make it difficult to procure a job henceforth–it fills me with something like rage. Beyond that, the job pays pennies, anyway.
Cori works so hard. He’s doing grad school full-time, he makes all his group projects, he goes to his practicum about 16 hours a week (and that will increase soon), and was working 14 hours on the weekends. He deserved none of this. I didn’t deserve this. I include myself because along with Cori’s income, I was about to tell my dad to cut about 30% from his financial help. And then hopefully in a few months I could tell him to cut another 30%. When I visited home and told mom a little of what was going on, Mom talked to dad about it and they instead UPPED their help. I asked her about it when I called on Easter and explained that I didn’t tell her about Cori’s job because I wanted more help–I just wanted them to know. I said that he had received a decent tax refund (though it was still under a grand) and he was going to ask for a bigger loan for the upcoming school year. Mom said she didn’t want him to have to do that, since he already has quite a bit in school loans. And she knows I wasn’t asking for more money, since I’ve said time and time again that I will never be able to repay them and I hate having to rely on them. They’re doing it temporarily and mom said if we don’t need the extra cash, to just sock it away.
If Cori is able to go back to work with this kid, I told him I’m going to forever feel uncomfortable with the situation, and asked if he could request a transfer. Maybe a kid who isn’t violent, or an elderly person. This has been so hard on us that I can’t take it again.
~Rachel
Loading comments...