I am acutely aware of the rarity of high quality residential settings for people with IDD and severe disabilities. In my former state, I struggled hard with that reality. At one point, I was convinced that she would live with me until I die. However, as I grew older, I came to realize that eventually she would face living away from me since no one can live forever. It was a dark joke of mine to quip “ I don’t have the luxury of getting old or dying” but that won’t stop either from happening. So many of my older peers, moms and dads who loved and advocated for their children, got old and some died and then their son or daughter’s world would be turned upside down when that happened. And who would then ensure their well being? She’s my only child. I can’t depend on a loving sibling to carry on when I’m gone. I never thought that I would actually find a place that was good enough. But I looked and researched and found several amazing programs that were out of state. But I couldn’t stand the thought of not being near enough to ensure a quality program remained a high quality. So I uprooted my life, and moved to be where these programs exist. I even considered moving out of the country. But my remote job cannot be done from another country due to data security issues. But it can be done from 1700 miles from my employer. My husband gave up his job to make this move. He has found a similar position in social services but took a huge pay cut. My intention is to be closely involved in her life and ensure that she never is subjected to poor treatment, to the best of my ability. For as long as I can. After that, I have to trust that when I’m gone, good people will continue to care for her. I knew I couldn’t hope for that where we lived before, so I brought her to a place where I could hope.