Who do you trust to care for your child?

This topic has been on my mind a lot this week. I’m finding that when it comes to finding someone to care for my son I have some serious trust issues. And rightly so, after what happened to us two weeks ago.

Then there is that horrible story in the news about the caregiver who allegedly murdered her medically fragile grandson. So yeah, I’ve been a bit of a basket case lately. Both incidents have made me consider whether or not I want to continue with the nursing care or just go it alone.

Sometimes having nursing care in our home is just as stressful as not having them. On the one hand I NEED them to have any sort of independence and at the same time with them around its like not having any independence at all. You would have to live it to understand what I mean, it’s a Catch-22 situation.

As it is, it’s difficult to leave my son with “just anyone” because his tracheostomy and g-tube care require training. But what happens when the person trained cannot be trusted? I would like to believe that because someone is licensed, trained and “seems” like a good fit that they can be trusted with my child’s life. I would like to believe that the nursing agency has hired and screened candidates thoroughly.

Last week I found out the hard way that that is just not always true.

I used to think my short list of requirements in a caregiver was pretty simple and straightforward: experienced, trained, dedicated, good with kids, on time, flexible and overall good “vibe”. It never crossed my mind that I needed to add HONEST to that list. I, naively, thought that was implied.

Don’t get me wrong, we currently have three dedicated nurses on his case that I do trust. But after the past week…I am wondering how confident I should be in MY ability to find trustworthy caregivers. I’ve been using my mom gut so far, and maybe that is what helped me last week. But I could have easily put my trust in the wrong person.

That is a scary thought.

Who do you trust your children with?

Janis chronicles Austin’s life and medical journey at Sneak Peek At Me. She is an advocate for medically fragile children and families living with a rare disease diagnosis.

photo/photoxpress

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