With Your Family in Mind

All of us at one time or another have had to face the challenge of what to give an aging loved one.  With the holidays just around the corner, finding an inexpensive, yet meaningful gift just requires some creative thinking!
Most of us delight in the holidays because we are surrounded by our families. 

No one can say for sure when the economic upturn will start to relieve the pressure on our nation’s households, but one thing is certain – the landscape for consumer spending and borrowing will be different for years to come.

Fostering is an amazing way to help change a child’s life.  Fostering means caring for children in a safe and secure environment.  It is about families who open up their homes and their hearts to a child in need.

It is the job of the Los Angeles County, Department of Children and Families Services (DCFS) to protect children.  DCFS removes children from their own families, most typically, due to abuse and neglect.  Currently, in Los Angeles County, there are 6,951 children placed in foster homes.  The need for loving and caring foster parents is essential.

Clients often tell me they want custody of the kids, or that they are afraid because the other parent is seeking custody.  It is important to understand exactly what custody is.  There are two types of child custody legal custody and physical custody.
Legal custody refers to making decisions for the child’s health, safety, and welfare.  An example of such decisions would include; where the child goes to school; when the child gets a drivers license; if the child goes to therapy; what doctor the child sees; etc. 

Your divorce is done and everything has been finalized.  It’s all over, right?  Maybe and maybe not.  It may depend upon whether you have minor children.  Under California law, child support orders are modifiable “at any time as the court deems necessary.”  The practicality of the situation is that the judgment can never be considered a “final” adjudication of the extent of the parents’ obligation to support their minor children.  Changes in custody can occur after judgment too. 

Traveling at just 35 miles per hour, a head-on collision can cause a one-pound article to strike at someone with about 100 pounds of force.  This can break bones and even cause life-threatening injuries.

Books, cell phones, and eating utensils can all become deadly weapons.  Buckling up kids in the car seat is great.  But, what do with miscellaneous items on the floor or the seats, or even the family dog?

Whether it is for physical, emotional or psychological healing it is easy to get a prescription for your problem.  However, the medical industry has become overly reliant on medications to solve problems and doles them out irresponsibly as well.

A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita wrote in with this question about breaking into voiceover and I promised to lay out over the next few months the skill-sets that most people in the areas of stage, film and television, singing, instructing, public speaking and on-air talent possess, and show how they do and don’t apply to voice acting.  Last month I talked about television and film actors.  This month I’ll talk about singers.

What do popular candy bars have to do with helping students break down the social barriers that exist on school campuses around the country?  During the annual Mix It Up day in Hart District schools, candy bar preferences are just one way of getting students to “mix up” their usual pattern of sitting at a “staked out” location each day at lunch.

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be” – Marcel Pagnol
Divorce is among the most traumatic experiences people face in their lives.  Divorce is not merely an end, but also a beginning.  To welcome new chapters in your life you have to leave the past behind and learn to move on.  Although many resources can help, the process is generally easier said than done.  Some thoughts that might ease the way include:

Siblings of children with special needs face unique challenges and opportunities that are sometimes overlooked by parents and school personnel.  Oftentimes, the special needs sibling requires the lion’s share of family resources in time, attention, and money.  The non-disabled sibling may experience feelings of anger, resentment, and guilt.  But he or she may also develop compassion, tolerance, and acceptance for others.  There are a number of roles, which may emerge, three of which are the Parentified Child, the Withdrawn Child, and the Super Achiever.

You’ve heard the adage “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  Have you asked yourself lately how much stuff have you collected and accumulated over the years.  And with the holidays fast upon us, we’re about to give and receive more stuff.  But there is another adage we’ve all heard, “You can’t take it with you when you die.”  And that is so true.

The rate of Type II diabetes has almost doubled in the past 10 years, according to the results of a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  Alarmingly, the actual number of people with diabetes is probably higher, because the survey relied on people to self-report—and many are diabetic and don’t even know it!

Lesson One: Michael had his legal documents in order.  Around 66 percent of Americans have absolutely no plan whatsoever.  As a result, much of his affairs will likely remain private, and his wishes will likely be followed.
Lesson Two: Michael avoided misunderstandings by naming each of his children and specifically excluding the mother of his two older children, Debbie Rowe, from any inheritance. 

Jared Client, age 45, was divorced.  He shared custody of his two daughters, age 10 and 12, with his ex-wife.  She was a loving mother, but Jared didn’t trust her with money.  Her well-developed talent for spending was not matched with a talent for budgeting or saving.  Jared was still paying off the credit card bills she had acquired during the marriage.

National Adoption Month in November is a time to recognize and thank adoptive families for their compassion while also raising awareness of the need for every child in America to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  With 129,000 children currently in foster care, Children’s Bureau is seeking caring families to consider adoption.  The agency is holding the following monthly information meetings for those interested in learning more: 

In October, I attended my RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly) re-certification classes to update my Administrator’s certificate.  My choice of classes included a 10-hour course entitled Alzheimer’s Care Progress Report.  Although the thought of being in class for 10 hours on a Saturday was not a thrilling one, I was eager to get an update on this important subject.  Coincidentally, this class coincided with the opening of our Memory Care Neighborhood here at Pacifica Senior Living.  I walked away from the class gaining some important information.  Below are some insightful facts relating to Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) that I thought you might find useful.

Once upon a time, the key to a safe deposit box was all loved ones needed to unlock the secrets of a life recently ended.  Today, many aspects of our lives, both financial and personal, are lived in places accessible only by a password.  We have e-mail addresses, online brokerages and banks, Facebook and MySpace profiles, and accounts with PayPal, eBay, and more.  In addition, many people have formed relationships with people they know only through game or social networking sites.