Mission Statement

To provide a place for parents and family members to meet and share experience, strength, give hope and awareness, to other families who have similar experiences raising children with ADD/ADHD, SPD, Anxiety, ASD, mental health diagnosis, developmental and behavioral challenges. Through sharing in this experience of raising these hard to raise kids, we grow stronger and more resilient.

Easy to Love is a 501 (C) (3) Non-Profit Organization

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

How Do You Pay For All of This??


How do you pay for all of this??
This is my burning question to all those families that have kids with health issues. We happen to be in a better place than most. Given the current season of thanksgiving and the current world climate, I am very very thankful for that, but still. Hudson's expenses run about 1300 monthly and there is no aide for that. We happen to be part of the shrinking middle class, that saved for retirement and had inherited some money which convinced us to invest in restoring our home. In the past few years we have had some setbacks. Much of our money was in the stock market, and after the crash it wasn't making nearly as much as it was in previous years and it largely paid for our mortgage. Then when the construction industry came to a halt my husband was out of work as an electrical engineer with no projects coming in at all. We then began paying our mortgage in full from the money that was inherited, but we were so upside down in it with the housing market crash that we could not refi or modify it. I went back to work full-time in a kitchen and my husband stayed home with our kids. In the midst of all of this we got our autism diagnosis. Early intervention, early intervention, early intervention!! So, we gave him as many state covered services that were available before he turned 3 and then we were on our own. So, now here we are, OT, Speech, Play Therapy, Therapy Preschool, Family Therapy, doctors visits, no way out of our mortgage, and because we do have a small amount of money left for retirement we do not qualify for SSI or Medicaide. I guess when they say it can always be worse, they really mean it! I can't imagine not having even 3K in assets, and that includes my vehicle. I would be even more fearful. So, frustrating and scary - how do you pay for all of these services and keep your marriage and your family intact? - Jen

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