Journey

Personal safety  ‘a general recognition and avoidance of possible harmful situations or persons in your surroundings’.

Keeping Rory safe, physically, emotionally, intellectually and financially is a constant struggle for Sean and I.  Just this week there were two serious incidents which sent our household into a spin.  Firstly, Rory sent a picture of his bank card, along with his signature and pin number to someone online, who he didn’t know who, said they loved him and desperately needed money.  I had to cancel Rory’s card, go into the bank to get a new one and make sure every security measure available was being utilised.  Rory has had the new card and his cell phone confiscated.  He also was on the receiving end of a lecture and Sean and I’s frustration and fear.  Rory has been working with the Psychologist on chat room addiction and being safe online but feelings of loneliness and a desire for connection overwhelm his ability to think and act responsibly.  Predators who set up online romance scams prey upon the vulnerable in our community.  Confiscating Rory’s cell phone and bank card is not a long term solution as he needs the card and a cell phone to function in the community and for safety.  Unfortunately he has proven himself untrustworthy on several occasions and the risks are high.  Secondly, yesterday when I stepped away from him for mere seconds on the footpath he fell over, grazing and bruising his knee and spraining his weak right ankle (again).  One minute he was standing there on the flat ground with his walker and then he wasn’t.  He is back in an ankle brace and it is quite sore so he is struggling to walk.  There continues to be a slow deterioration in his ability to stand and mobilise with the walker.  This time we were lucky on both occasions but we may not be as lucky again.  Just as we are working with the bank and the Psychologist we will have to work with ACC as a priority to explore options to maintain Rory’s safety, independence and participation in the world. 

In addition to the stress from Rory we are struggling to deal with rude tween behaviour.  Colt is an intelligent head strong 12 year old who is a master of back chat.  It has been a challenging week.