I am the mother of 4 children with various disabilities and delays. I survived a husband who was physically, mentally, sexually, emotionally and verbally abusive. My children and I have survived the NYC shelter system and are now living in our own apartment in peace now but finances are strained tight now and we are barely getting by.
My oldest son is 16 although mentally he is only about 11. He has Mild/Moderate Mental Retardation, Anxiety, Depression, Expressive/Receptive Language Disorder and Combined Type ADHD. He has hyper distended wrists, an extremely toed-in walk and slack muscle tone. He takes medications for the psychiatric conditions and is in an Alternative High School. He receives Speech, Occupational and Physical therapies in school as well as Adaptive Phys Ed and Counseling.
My younger son is 11 and has Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Depression, Aggression, Combined Type ADHD and Expressive/Receptive Language Disorder. He also takes medication for his psychiatric conditions. He attends a special education program where he receives Speech, Occupational and Physical therapies as well as Adaptive Phys Ed and Counseling.
My older daughter is 9 and has Aggression, Depression, Anxiety, Combined Type ADHD as well as a mild hearing impairment. She takes medications for these conditions as well. She attends a Collaborative Team Teaching class in her school and receives Counseling.
My younger daughter is 6 and has had delays in all aspects of her development since she was born. Her fine motor, gross motor, speech, social and educational skills have been significantly delayed. She previously attended and Early Intervention program (from 3-5 years old) where she received Speech, Physical and Occupational therapies. She attends a Collaborative Team Teaching class where she receives Speech, Physical and Occupational therapies as well as Counseling. She was just diagnosed recently with Combined Type ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder and has been recently put on 3 medications.
I am unable to work as the children need me at home to supervise the distribution of morning, afternoon and evening medications as well as to schedule and attend various doctor appointments with them. Three of the four children receive SSI and the 4th child and myself are on Public Assistance. We do not receive any Food Stamps. So, for myself and my other child, we get $64 every 2 weeks. We often have to go to food pantries to make up the difference in food for the month and any additional clothing the children need we usually get there.
I plan on moving the children out of state. I am doing my best to provide a better life for them and a safer living environment (we have had 3 murders in my area in less than 2 months and my best friend's 9 year old son was recently run over by a car while on the SIDEWALK!) He was fortunate enough to walk away from it with no injuries because his bicycle separated him from the car but it still has given me much fear for my own children and letting them play outside.
Anyway, we come to you for help. We need help fulfilling our wish to be able to leave this dangerous area and move to where it is safer, more economically advantageous and where the children can play outside with their friends and have a "normal" life. I keep promising them that I am trying to get us out of here and that, when we get there, they can play outside but we are having a MAJOR problem now and we might not be able to move.
Our family has 4 cats. They have been with us since the children were young. The oldest cat is 7 years old. They were all rescues and my children are VERY attached to them (especially my autistic son and youngest daughter). They are older cats and, if given for adoption would likely spend the rest of their lives in a cage or euthanized, as they are no longer young kittens. The apartment complexes that I have been looking at that accept our housing program either don't accept pets at all or want a $300 PER PET deposit!!! That's $1200 plus the cost of transporting them there. (If I paid all of that with the children's checks, we would STARVE the whole first month we were there!)
I know this is not a request that most people would consider "important" but, to my children and to anyone else who has had any kind of experience with a "special needs" child and knows the kind of "miracles" interaction with animals can do, it IS important. These cats are an integral part of our family. Can anyone help us? Are their any organizations that help with this kind of thing? Any help would be SO appreciated.
Well, thanks for listening and thanks for your time and for any information you may have to offer us.
