Placer county children's systems of care has a program called R.A.F. T which stands for "rallying around families together". It is funded by MHSA. I deeply regret that my 9 year old special needs child was a "client", even though he did not ever recieve services or assistance. That did not stop the county from documenting that he did. The progress notes are absurd, defamatory, altered, and false. He supposedly became a client in July, yet they did not even meet him until october, and it was just polite introductions. At no time did they ever discuss treatment, or goals for him with me. It became confusing, because I thought it was supposed to be a program for him, but they never worked with him, or mentioned it.
Instead, they did document information about my husband and I, who are NOT clients. They make repeated referrence to our "mental health issues", without having ever assessed us, without having ever seen any medical records on us. They wrote up notes of meetings that never took place. On some occasions, a worker did schedule meetings, but either didn't show up, or called in sick. She of course documented that she provided some type of service, but the notes are not clear as to what exactly it is she claimed to do. The few meetings we did have, my husband and I tried to bring the topic onto the issue of our son, and how to get help for him. I was not sending him to school anymore, because he was becoming so bad off, regarding interactions he did not understand while at school, and his emotional well being was becoming of signifigant concern to us. We did not consent for them to discuss us or document any sort of notes about us, especially anything related to medical issues. Nor did we sign to be a part of the program. I signed for my child to recieve services, only he never did receive them.
While in a due process with the school district, these records got subpeoned by the district. I got a copy of the records, and I was stunned, to see months and months of notes documented, including the "billable minutes" in regards to meetings with my son, and meetings with us that not only didn't happen, but are really easy for us to offer proof that they never happened. Yet these records have now completely interferred with our sons right to a fair due process hearing, and have jepordized his education further as a result. The school is under the impression he recieves help, and therefore should be attending school, and now they are being given false information that, if was true, should be protected by HIPPA or privacy laws, to which they have no regard for.
It is very evident that the county had no knowledge of my sons functioning, or behavior. While the school and I disagree on my childs placement, we both agree that he is very well behaved. The notes describe my son to be violent and agressive when told what to do. It is so upsetting to read such defamatory statements about an innocent child.
When we saw these notes, we asked to have a meeting to discuss them. We wrote letters, asking for these false notes to be addressed and ammended. Because we could prove they had not taken place, we just wanted them to clear it up and we would leave it at that. Only one worker (the supervisor) would agree to meet with us. We told him that as a family we felt exploited and humiliated. This supervisor, had written the progress note about the "intervention" with my son. He confessed that he did not remember having a meeting like that. It was a very awkward situation. He said he had not done it to humiliate our family, and that these notes don't ever "go anywhere", and that he has not ever dealt with them being subpeanoed and "resurfacing". He went on to say it is a catch 22, that in order for the program to receive funding from MHSA, you have to document mental health problems. We were in shock, because he had no information in regards to if any of us even had mental health issues, yet they were writing these notes and billing the county, and not giving us any services! They never treated our child or gave him help.
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