[blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with avisualimpairment

Sat Dec 31 16:03:38 UTC 2011

Miranda, I think Debbie's suggestion about the pamphlet is a good one; sorry 
I forgot about that.
As for the audible alarm or chimes, you might check with a Lowe's or 
somewhere like that to get an economically priced alarm system; it doesn't 
have to be anything fancy, just something to alert you when a door is 
opened. Again, good luck; I hope we can provide answers for you and those 
with whom you are working.
Sharon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Miranda B." <knownoflove at gmail.com>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 8:27 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] Keeping young children safe as parents with 
avisualimpairment


> 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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>
>
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