Pre Person Centered Plan Meeting Preparedness 2009…

‘Tis that time of year again, y’all!

C-Money and this bitch are scheduled to attend our brother’s Person Centered Plan meeting tomorrow. As our older brother’s co-guardians, we get the opportunity to provide input and guidance in his plan…in the document that details his needs and wants, how he will be cared for and what services he will receive.

Trust me, these meetings are crucial and often a royal pain in the ass.

The good part?

The meeting will have all the key players in my brother’s life in attendance – staff from his residential treatment center, the state offices that monitor all things related to his care and representatives from the various departments that provide all manner of services...plus The Sisters of Bitchitude in our role as sisters and as co-guardians. By meeting’s end, we’ll have revised all things Bill related and have a plan to present to the Missouri Department of Mental Health with hopes that they will authorize all needed things and green light most wanted things.

The shitified part?

The meeting will have all the key players in my brother’s life in attendance – staff from his residential treatment center, the state offices that monitor all things related to his care and representatives from the various departments that provide all manner of services. At least one of them will get overly defensive in response to a valid critique, another will play the role of Corn Flakes pisser and happily predict several denials of authorization for some shit we really want for Bill. Still another will try to explain to us that our brother is autistic (no shit, really?!?) and that our expectations are unreasonable (only if failure is an option) and end up making me wonder if we’re not getting services because we can’t or if we’re not getting them because those positioned to demand them are requesting them with the expectation that they will not be authorized.

Sigh.

Person Centered Plan meetings are yearly reminders that public policy and government budgets play huge roles in the lives of millions of Americans...that we are too often a society that proclaims our goodness rather than manifests that shit through action. And they serve to remind this bitch that when the leadership of my state government chooses to pander to conservative interests rather than do the people’s bitness during legislative sessions the most vulnerable among us are left paying the tab.

So today I seek to settle my soul and fuel up my emotional battery so I can go into that meeting tomorrow and get the things my brother needs...even as I acknowledge the precious lack of resources we are left to play with when those in control of government claim to value Missouri families and life while in reality they value political bullshit and panderific greed more.

Mayhap I’ll make a drinking game out of it.

Annoying use of my brother’s formal name William instead of Bill = 1 sip vodka cran

Mention of budget cuts to programs already cut to the bone = 2 sips vodka cran

Condescending explanations of autism from new staffer(s) with less than 2 months employment under her or his belt = 1 big gulp of vodka cran

Pause…consider…continue.

Something tells me that wouldn’t be wise or good for a bitch’s liver (wince).

***logs off to get preparedness on***