Hey! Where's Louis?

I told you why Louis had been coming to program late, after our cafeteria cleared out. The noise and activity level is a lot for anyone, but much bigger for a small kid with large issues.
It really did help him to have that time to decompress.

How I wish that the things I did to try to help were enough.

The door into the hallway from the portable classrooms makes a distinctive noise.
When it opened this afternoon about 20 minutes past dismissal, Caden looked up.
"Louis is here!" he said.

I didn't answer that.

When no one entered our area, Amelia said, "Caden! You were wrong, he's not here."

Then she turned to me. "Where is Louis? He hasn't been here in like, days."

"He doesn't come anymore," I said, and turned to Will, who was mangling a paper spiral snake with a pair of scissors. "Do you need any help with cutting that out, Will?"

Amelia wasn't having it.

"What? Why not? How come he doesn't come here anymore?" she said.

"He just doesn't." I told her. I'm certainly not going to tell the kids that he was asked to leave the program, it's not their business. So I just left it at that and our afternoon went on. It will come up again, I'm sure.

As I was leaving my program on Thursday morning, Louis and his dad were coming down the stairs.
"Louis!" I said. "How are you feeling?" (he'd been out sick for two days from school.)

"I feel better," he told me. "How did you know I was sick?"

"Dude. I'm magic. I. Know. Everthingggggg!"

He laughed. High fived me.

As I was getting into my car, his dad caught up with me.

We talked a little about a couple child care options that they're considering.
I have been in contact with someone who advertised on Facebook that they're looking for someone to come to their home to take care of their child. The child has 'an emotional disturbance' and the county pays for this service, according to the ad.

So I messaged the individual and got the information about this, thinking I'd pass it on to Dad when I saw him. With his permission, I emailed the information to him on Thursday after I got home.

He spent a couple minutes telling me how much he appreciated what I'd done with/for his child and I felt embarrassed but thanked him for his trust, too. I want Louis to succeed in life, and anything I can do to support that, even now, after he's no longer in the program, I will do.

I really hope they can find someone who will be a good fit for Louis. I care so much about 'my' kids.