Michelle Barclay: Cold Case Teen Finds Forever Family Just in Time for Christmas

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As I drove up to Goshen Valley Boy’s Ranch in the pouring rain with Sue Badeau from Casey Family Programs in the seat beside me at 8pm, I had moments of doubt. I asked James’ case manager earlier in the day, “Is James OK with seeing us tonight?”

“About as excited as a 15 year old boy can be,” she answered, which did not comfort me. When we arrived at the lovely but lonely set of houses set in a wide expanse of woods and views, we were informed that James* had gone to bed, disappointed that we had failed to show way past the agreed upon hour.   But he did come out and joined us for a two-hour conversation about his permanency goals. We had gotten permission for Sue to do permanency counseling with James.

Foster Children’s Psychotropic Medication Monitoring Act

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A wrenching story of abuse and neglect appears on the op-ed page of Thursday’s AJC.  And State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-DeKalb) makes the case for reviewing how much medication is used to control the behavior of children in foster care. Oliver writes about a little boy who endured a crushing family tragedy and was abandoned by his parents while in first grade. Now he’s 13, living in an institution and heavily medicated with psychotropic drugs. His story is one of more than 200 cases detailed in the Cold Case Project, sponsored by the Supreme Court of Georgia’s Committee on Justice for Children.