The Hope Institute Blog

Grateful Parents Breathe Sighs of Relief

By Joseph E. Nyre, Ph. D. on August 10, 2009

Last Friday’s news that 41 of our children with the most severe disabilities will NOT be sent home on October 1st caused many parents to breathe a sigh of relief.  One parent posted the following to Facebook:  “I cried every day for fear of what I would do not knowing how to manage if my daughter couldn’t stay at Hope. Now I cry for joy. I’m so proud to stand amongst all the amazing people who called, wrote and fought for 41 beautiful kids. There are many worthy causes. There is no more worthy cause than this.”

As this parent noted, the advocacy in support of these 41 youth was truly a team effort.  Parents, board members, trustees, friends of Hope and our professional associations all played a role in making the case for a responsible state budget.  While the final outcome was a compromise that probably did not please everyone (anyone?), that’s what compromise is about.  The question is, how can we work with our elected and appointed state officials to make certain this never happens again?

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