Fund Isabella's Lifesaving Therapeutic Care

It is with humility and great vulnerability that I share a glimpse into the journey our family has been on this last year. My hope in sharing this journey is multi-faceted: draw awareness to the mental health crisis, change “the system”, and boldly ask for help.

Our daughter, Isabella, was diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and autism in September of 2022, due to childhood trauma sustained from her biological mother. RAD is a serious disorder that requires consistent therapy and medication intervention. Although she had been in therapy for the majority of her life, we realized it wasn’t helping. We went all over Springfield trying to find a specialized therapist that could see her on a consistent basis- there were none. IF a therapist was in-network with our insurance, it was a 3-6 month wait. We went out of network and paid an average of $100.00 per appointment and they wanted to see her at least weekly.

After six months of consistent therapy, Isabella attempted to end her life on March 28, 2023 via overdose. She was hospitalized for 10 days. Upon discharge from the hospital, I expressed my concern for her safety as nobody could give us answers on her quickly deteriorating condition. The doctor flippantly said “this was only her first attempt. We aren’t too worried until they attempt 3-4 times.” “She’ll likely try again, so do your best to keep her safe.” These statements took my breath away.

Unwilling to risk our daughter’s life or accept the complacency of the medical professionals, we made the difficult decision to place her in a residential therapeutic program. In the last year, we have spent $110,000 (out-of-pocket) on her care, as the facility costs $15,500 per month. We have pursued every avenue we know of to get financial help, but because we are middle-class, we don’t qualify for assistance- even though this is life-saving care. The guidance we consistently receive from various professionals is: (1) get a divorce (to protect our assets) and file for bankruptcy, (2) quit our jobs to qualify for Medicaid, and (3) give Isabella to the state. My answer is no. No to breaking a covenant with God for financial reasons. No to entering into poverty to gain access to government funds. No to turning my back on the little girl I vowed to love and protect in a courtroom the day I adopted her. Maybe my no is detrimental, but I know God is bigger than this broken system.

We will never give up. We have a support system that is holding our arms up as we fight this battle. The Lord has poured blessing after blessing onto our family as we navigate this horrific journey and my prayer is that He will use this tragedy to draw awareness and create change for our family and families that don’t have any fight left in them.

How to help:

1. Donate if you feel led.

2. Write your state representative asking for change in insurance policy to cover mental health, regardless of socioeconomic background. If mental health matters (like we often hear) let’s put our money where our mouth is.

3. If you are just curious about RAD and know someone who is suffering, find more information about the disorder and offer to listen: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537155/