Doris Said:

Child health/Pregnancy/Baby Careers/Play therapy???

We Answered:

A Child Life Specialist may be your calling. This is a fairly new career, but it is growing rapidly. CLS work in children's hospitals and prepare children for medical test and proceedures. You work with the child patient and thier siblings on occasion. When my daughter had her first heart surgery, a CLS came to speak with my other children and explain how thier younger sister would appear during recovery. She had a teddy bear w/ drain tubes I.V.s, N.G. tubes, Sat and heart monitors placed on it. She explained the purpose of all the tubes and wires then allowed the children to play with the bear. It was very helpful to have this difficult time mediated in a way that children could understand. CLS are also advocates for children. If a child is hospitalized for a long time, their hospital room becomes home and a CLS realizes this. They step in and ask for proceedures to be preformed in a seperate room so the child feels safe in the room that they must sleep in. These are just a couple of small things they do to make an ill child's experience less traumatic. Check it out; it might be what you are looking for.

Danielle Said:

What are reasons that Child Pertective Servies could take your child, I am worried for my sisters baby health?

We Answered:

Now that you know how your nephew is being treated and know of the enviornment in which he is being subjected to it is "your duty" to call CPS and ask them to investigate the situation. You are "his Auntie" and "he needs you" to be sure he is safe and secure. Just be sure to consult CPS before doing anything (unless you witness propable harm---then take him to a safe enviornment right away!) so that all will work out best for yor nephew. By doing this you might even be helping your sister become a responsible parent as well as an eventual responsible citizen.

I can remember a similar situation when I was a teenager. A young girl that my mother had helped raise from time to time began doing hard drugs and my mother got word that the young girl and her friends where making the baby drink beer and take hits of marijuana for their entertainment. So my mother went and got the baby, saying that she just wanted to babysit for the day and as soon as the young girl and her friends left the apartment we went in and gathered the babies things and took her home with us and kept her until she could be placed safely with a family member of the young girl.

My feeling is that whenever one is aware of abuse and/or neglect of a child they must step in and do what is best for that child---even if it means calling CPS and having the child placed with a responsible adult or in a "safe house" while the investigation is being conducted.

Please be sure your nephew is safe and secure. He will forever love you and respect you for having the strength and courage to step in at a time in his life when he was too little to do anything to help his self.

I wish I could do more---thank you for soliciting for advice and direction toward assuring your nephew to have a better chance at having a happy, positive successful childhood.

Love you for what you are doing---Tillie