[blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with avisualimpairment

Sat Dec 31 03:05:20 UTC 2011

Dear Miranda,

You might refer the fostar care folks to the pamphlet Parenting without 
Sight: What Attorneys and Social Workers Should Know about Blindness, which 
is available free of charge from the NFB at www.nfb.org or (410) 659-9314.

Debbie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sharon howerton" <shrnhow at att.net>
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with 
avisualimpairment

> 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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>
>
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