The month before Kristen's 17th birthday, Kristen will be tested and if it's determined that it's needed, a referral will be made to Adult Protective Services, which might apply for guardianship, considered a drastic step, Wool says. Or there might be a state school placement or extended foster care till the age of 20, he says. Or she'll be out on her own.
Elain Philpott wants her daughter tested -- while off her meds -- to find out if she really is mentally retarded, mentally ill or just the product of a bad and disjointed education. She wants Kristen weaned off all the drugs she's been on before she takes any tests. She wants to know if they've ever done a brain scan. She adds that the psychotropic drugs, which she says were first given to Kristen at Devereux, have given her daughter a permanent case of the shakes.
Kristen Turner carries some lasting reminders of her injuries and the treatment that immediately followed.
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In her last PPT hearing, Philpott says, the CPS caseworker told her Kristen would be institutionalized for the rest of her life. "They said Kristen would never be able to hold down a job.
"I so desperately want to gain back my rights," Philpott says. "If I could just get the right help for her. I want to be a mother to her again."
Physical problems have been laid atop her mental ones, and whether her mother could deal with them right now is questionable. At times she says she wants her back right away; at other times she wants her at a good facility until they can be reunited.
Wool says Philpott does have a chance of regaining her daughter. "There's some family therapy that has to occur. We're always interested if we can determine the risk factors are diminished."
And Heather Pohl, a veteran caseworker and the latest one in Kristen's life, told the court that plans right now were for long-term foster care and training for independent living and concurrently, a reunification with family members.
Philpott wants to know where all the money has gone that was supposed to go for taking care of Kristen. She knows foster care homes and institutions get vouchers for clothing and are covered for medical visits.
She remembers the day a few years back when she went to visit Kristen with her mom. Kristen had on hard patent leather shoes that "were three sizes too small. They were deforming her feet," Philpott says. She ran out and immediately bought Kristen a new pair of shoes -- an instant fix.
It's going to be harder to make all the other fixes that need to be made for Kristen. The doctors and nurses at Texas Children's were vigilant, always bringing up questions about the girl, her past and present, Philpott says. They paid attention.
Now she's back at another CPS-ordered facility. Will Kristen just become invisible again? Bounce around a few more places, go through another handful of overworked caseworkers? Out of sight and out of mind -- her continued problems certainly beyond our collective attention span.
