[blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a visualimpairment

[Miranda B.]

Hi Sharon,
Thanks for your comments and encouragement! We're actually looking into the
door chimes, and we'd appreciate any information anyone can give about
models of chimes. We're wanting to put chimes on the child's bedroom door
and our front door in our home. So, we're hoping to not spend a ton of money
on these chimes.
Thank you also for the other tips and again for your encouragement. We're
very interested in the book from APH and will be looking into this. We've
also referred our new caseworker to "Parenting without sight", and we've
encouraged her to send this to the state workers as well as a resource to
view and share.
Happy New year!

In Christ, Miranda

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of sharon howerton
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 8:08 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a
visualimpairment

Miranda, do you have an auditory indicator on your outside doors that might
beep when a door is opened? We had this when my sons were young, I noticed
it in a friend's house (both parents are blind and they have two grown
children but when I was there, the kids were in their teens) but more
recently I noticed it in a condo we looked at. Another interesting tip came
from one of my first Parenting students, a grandma taking care of her then
two or so year old granddaughter. She said she closed the doors to rooms
where she did not want her little one to go and put different kinds of wind
chimes on the doors so she could tell which one was opened.
Finally, APH is coming out with a new book with strictly tips for blind
parents. I read the preliminary version but do not know when it will be
available to the public; I reviewed it a year ago.
I sincerely wish you well and if can be of any further help, please let me
know.
Your comments about foster care remind me of another student who is
volunteering at a daycare center. One part deals with foster kids and the
other with children of more normal families. She said she was being observed
and scrutinized so much when she worked in the foster care section that she
finally just got out of it altogether so I empathize with your concerns and
hope you will be able to succeed. You and Andy have sure worked hard and
long at this process.
Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Miranda B." <knownoflove at gmail.com>
To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 6:51 PM
Subject: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with a
visualimpairment


> Hi,
>
> For those of you who know me and have talked with me for any length of 
> time, you may find the subject of this email a bit puzzling, so please 
> let me explain.
>
> As some of you may know, my husband and I are currently in the process 
> of being licensed as foster parents. After sending our home study to 
> the state for approval, our caseworker (through a private agency) 
> received notice from the state that they are requesting more 
> information. They are asking her to investigate further resources and 
> information about how we will keep a child in our home safe as foster 
> parents who happen to be Blind. The state has made it very clear that 
> they are not wanting to discriminate in any way, but that they are 
> requesting more information from many families regarding child safety 
> due to recent incidents in our foster care system. They are also 
> wanting more information than usual from those applying to be foster 
> parents who have never been parents before this.
>
> In return, we have answered basic questions of safety as best as we 
> can and we've reiterated that we have all childproofing in place in 
> our home (our case was recently transferred to a caseworker who knows 
> us but has not recently been in our home.) We want to approach this 
> situation with the intent to educate the state about resources for 
> Blind parents, and adaptions we make as parents who are visually 
> impaired. We have made it clear that there is a fine line between 
> wanting more information and discrimination (whether intentional or 
> not) and that we will appeal any denial for licensing should the need 
> arise. We are taking a Hadley parenting course, and this has been 
> documented. We've told our caseworker about the NFB and other 
> Blindness organizations. Now, we are coming to you for tips and 
> advice. Can you tell us adaptions you made to keep your children safe?
> These
> could be adaption for medical care, making sure they didn't run out 
> the door of your home, keeping them safe while you are cooking, ETC. 
> Anything you cn think of we'd appreciate it! Also, for those of you 
> who have adopted or been licensed as foster parents, if you could 
> provide any tips or advice on this matter this would also be greatly 
> appreciated!
>
> Lastly, if you can think of any resources at all to pass along to our 
> caseworker and the state, we'd appreciate any thing you can think of.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help you can give, and happy new year!
>
>
>
> In Christ, Miranda
>
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