What is in store for Cali ??

Rick and I had our first meeting with the head of Adult Transition of Capistrano School District yesterday. He has been with the district and the program for over 30 years along with most everyone else involved. These people that run this program seem to really care. Even though they more than likely get paid crap and the Federal Government pays roughly $600 per year per kid they keep going. They are working hard everyday to help 116 young adults age 18-22 years old transition from school into the community. These young adults range from medically fragile to almost independent-driving a car and living in a group home. These young adults go to a college campus everyday 9am-3pm and work in the community. They have a schedule where they may work on reading in the class in the am, then on to working on life skills such as “how do you act in an interview” or what is inappropriate to say to a stranger or friend. Basically they learn how to be a good citizen in the community. Then after their morning lessons a few kids go with one teacher to maybe Costco food preparation, or maybe Howies Game Shack to do whatever is assigned. Each teacher travels with a handful of student, no matter what their disability, to a job site and they do what they can depending on their abilities. Another part of their day includes physical education such as swimming, etc. Then at 3pm the bus takes each student home to their doorstep.

We found out yesterday what Cali has in store for her at age 18-22 years. It was a huge question mark for us. We talk little about it. What happens next? Will Cali live with us for all of her life? Now we have to think about Ryann too. It’s hard to look at the big picture. There are so many unknowns and how is it even possible? But as most parents plan for college we have to plan too. We are even looking at Rae at 5 years old and asking ourselves what is she good at and in the back of our minds what will help pay for college? So it is only fair and obvious we do this for Cali and Ryann. Things will change and we are positive of that. Its still good to know and feel like we have as much insight and information as possible. So yesterday in our meeting we learned that Cali will have school from ages 18-22 years and she will be in the community and really focusing on the quality of life. Income or taking care of her own kids will not be a concern for her. She will live her life as HAPPY as possible, INVOLVED as possible and ACTIVE as possible and we will LOVE her as much as possible. The future or the big picture in its rough draft is sometimes overwhelming to look at. All we can do is look at what we see in a positive light and keep on smiling….