My First Full Time Kid

Forgive me, but I’m going to jump around in my past to my first full time foster placement. Nine year old Mike was placed with me in late 1994. He was only supposed to stay with me until a space opened up in a special group home. You see, Mike was a bit of a trouble maker. He would get into unusual trouble at school, like running away, or climbing up on the roof and banging on classroom windows with sticks. He was on three different kinds of medication; Ritalin, Tegretol and Clonidine. The Ritalin was supposed to calm him and allow him to focus. The others, as I understood it, were mostly to deal with side effects.

As it turned out, the prescribed dosages weren’t relayed from doctor to doctor correctly as he was moved through the system. Poor Mike was overdosed on one medication and underdosed on another for the first few weeks. It was a real mess. Yes, Mike was one of the most challenging kids I have had so far, and he was my first. And still I grew closer to him faster than just about any other kid since. I think it was because he was such a challenge, and also because underneath all his antics, he was a really neat kid.

(This post is the first in a thread about all the kids I've given care to.  Click HERE to view the next post in sequence.)