Since 2018 and 2019 following their foster care placement breakdowns, both Jaxon and Xavier have remained in 1:1 placements as they required significant support to address challenging emotional and behavioural needs. Since entering their 1:1 placements, their teams along with clinical support have done extensive work to develop their coping skills and ability to interact with others safely.
As a result of the progress they have made, both Jaxon and Xavier have had amazing outcomes including full-time school attendance, positive connections with family and they have established great friendships with their neighbours and peers at school. Because of this progress and the effort of their teams, it allowed us to explore the potential for them to be grouped. As we know a 1:1 residential setting is not a natural environment for a young person to be in and isn’t always an environment where they have opportunity to develop peer interaction skills.
There were some challenges to start with as Jaxon could be a little overbearing during play, but Xavier understood that he needed to go easy on Jaxon as he could see that Jaxon could become easily upset and not as capable as Xavier in managing his emotions at times. Xavier was able to identify that Jaxon is only little and needs a little extra support at times. This made us really proud of Xavier and shows how much he has matured.
Yesterday, the move finally happened after much planning and the boys were really excited about it! Xavier even dressed up in a nice shirt and tie as he wanted to be dressed respectfully for the new house. This has been a long time coming for both boys and they enjoyed their first night in the new house with Xavier showing Jaxon how to play some Xbox games and playing with Jaxon’s train set out the back.
This is a huge achievement for everyone involved with Jaxon and Xavier and we’re glad it’s finally happened and the boys will now have each other to keep one another company.