Penny's From Heaven

In my professional life, I serve as legal guardian for several people with developmental disabilities.  One of these people is Penny.  Penny is a young black woman living in an economically challenged neighborhood.  In the past, she has had some minor run-ins with the law.  She has had a tough upbringing that includes being sexually assaulted by one of her mother's boyfriends.

A couple of years ago, Penny really pulled her life together.  She started a small business that involved teaching groups of people how to dance.  A local advocacy organization presented her with their annual award for self-advocacy.

Penny is now out of jail on bail.  Last year, she was diagnosed with diabetes.  She has not been monitoring her diabetes very well.  She has been arrested several times for theft, prostitution and disorderly conduct.  She cannot keep an apartment.  She has been living with various relatives.  She does have a human service team that works to support her.  However, she is not very open to accepting support.

A couple of weeks ago, the support team met to discuss the possibility of "pulling the plug" on Penny's human services.  We have tried virtually everything.  The main problem is that Penny really does not want any structure in her life.  She likes to come and go as she pleases.  She hangs around with the wrong people that often take advantage of her in many ways.

On Friday, there was a settlement conference to discuss consequences related to Penny entering a man's apartment (at random) and looking for items to steal.  The man awoke and subdued Penny.  The district attorney is offering a deal of 18 months of probation.  We are struggling with the possibility of asking for some jail time - as that would force some structure on Penny (and at least temporarily control her diabetes).

Many on the team feel that we have let Penny down.  It is very difficult for us to try to figure out how Penny went from doing so well to doing so poorly in a little more than a year.

Regardless of the outcome for Penny, we need to stick by her.  She is a major pain in the rear end to all that are trying to help her.  However, like all of us, she is a dignified child of God.