230 The Explosive ChildIf you end up seriously considering placing your child in
a residential facility, try to visit some of the places where
you’re thinking of sending him. Make sure you feel com-
fortable with the staff, the philosophy of the program, and
the other children at the facility. Make sure the staff have
lots of experience working with children whose profiles are
similar to your child’s. Make sure they are open to your
ideas about your child.
Placement won’t be forever. With luck, only a year or
two. That gives you some time to get your own house in or-
der, while your child is in a controlled, safe environment
where he can learn how to think more flexibly and handle
frustration more adaptively, where he can get his medica-
tion straight, and where he can be helped to come home.
It’s not the end of the world. It can be a new beginning.