Experts?

As RAD parents, we find ourselves fighting daily just to keep on top of things, and it doesn't help with the people who are supposed to be helping us are completely clueless. A couple of days ago I took the final step to get the most recent CPS case closed by meeting with a caseworker at the Homeless PreNatal program for an exit interview. Now, I'm neither homeless NOR pregnant, but apparently it was reported to CPS that I was out drinking and doing drugs while my RAD sat locked in her room starving (did I ever mention my daughter is a master of manipulation at any cost?). Caseworker asked how my RAD was doing and I explained she was doing much better now that she's in a Day Treatment program and can no longer get away with her games. Caseworker gave me a quizzical look and I told her my RAD has RAD. She had no idea what that was??!!? I would think that a caseworker who deals with at risk youth and their families would at least have heard of Reactive Attachment Disorder, but she hadn't. So I had her fire up her browser and go to http://www.thelittleprince.org/symptomsandcausesofrad.html where I showed her the symptoms of RAD. She was shocked, especially when I explained that my RAD exhibits 17 of the 20 symptoms to one degree or another, and that this is something we've been fighting for years.

At that point the discussion turned from my alleged issues to RAD children and how difficult it is to parent them. We easily spent 30 minutes on that subject alone and I think (hope?) that by the time I left she was curious and interested enough to learn more about the condition.

I find it somewhat distressing that even the "experts" who work in a field where they come into contact with high-risk children regularly can be so uninformed about something that can cause such upheaval and problems for their clients. Looks like us, as RAD parents, now have to add "Educator" to our ever growing list of "professions" that we have to be good at just to raise our children. But if we take it upon ourselves to educate others, those that come after us may be able to get the help we wish we had at an earlier age. So carry around your notebook of notes, bookmark those URLs, and never be afraid to question the "experts". After all, nobody is an expert on your child like you are!