NEWS ABOUT AMIE AND DEREK AND THEIR PROGRESS

I want to share some further thoughts today. I have communicated with a reliable source as well as reviewing data we have already been given. Ayn’s mother Amie’s most recent comment is featured at the top of this page. It deserves a re-read by us all. She may not be the designated communicator, but what she expresses to us when she writes does convey essentials to this ongoing story and should satisfy some of my and your desire for information. In April/May Amie changed jobs and she also moved to a new apartment. Finding an apartment suitable to both visiting children and stay-at-home pets was difficult. Of course, Amie had to accommodate social workers’ inspection of the apartment to insure it is appropriate for Ayn. Further, Ayn, fearful of the unknown and one who requires consistency, initially did not want to come to the new home, so that required time, but she has made the adjustment.
Amie holds two jobs 6-7 days per week. We can appreciate how exhausting her schedule appears to be. The shifts impact her available time to see Ayn so this requires considerable interaction with the foster home to manage scheduling as well to arrange transportation for Ayn. One of Amie’s shifts ends in the evenings. Ayn must be in bed at a reasonable hour because she attends school Mon-Fri. Amie does her best to see Ayn two times per week and she hopes that the summer school hiatus will afford more flexibility.

While it is true that Derek has been silent, perhaps the following facts will help us to understand. Derek did not have Internet access for several months and I am uncertain about that status presently. I am told that his commitment is primarily to his boys as it should be. However, it also must be noted that given the awareness that he first wanted, and the sympathy his story garnered, he found that he was receiving several hundred email messages per day and his phone was constantly ringing. He had to make choices, and he opted to focus on the care of his sons as well as the written preparations he has had to make to the Ministry from time to time. In the past month Derek too has moved with the boys to a new home location further in the valley. With that move, Derek and the boys were assigned yet another social worker, the seventh person to be assigned to the case. He is in the process of establishing an intervention program for their autistic son. Derek has hired a BI that seems to be an excellent fit for the family. Importantly, Derek is currently in process of setting up access for visitation with Ayn. There are predictable family health situations, like colds that require attention and time and early in the new year one of the boys also required medical attention for a slipped capital femoral epiphysis, SCFE (sometimes pronounced "skiffy"), a common cause of hip and knee pain in children ages 7 and 11 caused usually during a growth spurt, a common hip disorder in adolescence. This required surgery and hospitalization for a time and now ongoing therapy. Further, as a single dad doing stay-at-home parenting of two sons, one of whom is also autistic, the family finances are lean and that tests the family.