You know how every family has the good child and the trouble child. Well Cooper is our trouble child. If he hears another dog bark even a mile away he has to answer. If he even just sees a dog on TV he goes bonkers. If I am working at my desk he will bring a toy and bark at me continuously until I play with him. And once I start playing with him I can’t stop. Then when I do try to stop playing all he wants to do is eat me. Like children, when he is sleeping he is adorable, but when either of them are awake I have less flattering definitions to describe them.
My wife and I are embarking on a journey that we have been planning since the kids started high school. Next year we are going to move them into their own home. We feel they need a community of friends like them, with special needs. Many times when I have to deal with homeless people around the restaurantsI find that they are special needs adults. One man who didn’t even know his age or name was asking me basic questions that a 5 year old would ask. If a special needs adult walks out of his or her group home and is gone for more than a few days they are out of the system. Once they are out it is very difficult to get them back in. I tried to get help for this other gentleman, but found a series of phone calls that circled back to the original contact that ended up going nowhere. One of the biggest challenges with these kids is, they are all on meds, and once they are off of them they may have severe emotional issues. Consequently the police are called and these poor individuals are treated differently than they should be. So our goal is to build a community of these special people. A few years ago we purchased a closed fixer upper group home in Orangevale, and this year we bought a fixer upper a block away. We are hoping to have 4 kids live in each home. The second home has a guest house and we plan to build one for the other home as well. This way we can offer low rent to someone who helps keep an eye on the kids. Each kid would also have a care giver so many hours a week but with the guest house there is back up. We are hoping other parents will rent or purchase homes in the same area so that our community can grow and that would enable more people looking after these special individuals. Wish us luck.