05x02 - The Baulisch Family

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on "supernanny"--

[Yelling] ow!

In a "supernanny" first...hello!

Jo works with two deaf parents

Who have four children that can hear.

Well!stop it.

The three youngest kids take advantage

Of their parents' disability...

Kiss my butt. Pushing them to the breaking point.

[Woman] this is stress. It's just true stress.

That's not my problem.

And forcing the teenager to act as a third hearing parent.

You can leave, but you're going to bed early,

And you're not gettin' no snack.

But the pressure and responsibility

Is tearing her apart.

You want my help only if I'm babysitting

Or to clean the house,

To be your maid or something.

When I'm home, I don't get

Treated with respect.

[Bleep]

Melissa. Get off of me!

Can jo help this family communicate... Melissa!

She doesn't know! Or will this family fall to pieces?

♪♪♪♪♪

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Well, I'm here in papillion, nebraska,

And there's a family that needs my help.

So let's take a look.

Hello! We are the baulisch family.

[Woman] I'm dorothy. [Man] and I'm kip.

And we have four children.

Hi, I'm melissa. I'm .

I have three little sisters.

Jessica is the oldest,

Jennifer--... [Screaming]

And kristin--. I don't like that!

And all four of our children are hearing.

Well, this is gonna be an experience for me,

Working with deaf parents who have hearing children.

[Woman] jennifer is very, very expl*sive.

She's angry.

[Screaming]

[Melissa] jessica--

She's not as bad as jennifer... No!

But she's very sneaky. You pull hair all the time.

Kristin--she's the baby of the family.

Of course, the baby always gets what they want.

[Screaming]

Sometimes I feel like my sisters take advantage

Of my parents being deaf.

You put it back. No. [Speaking indistinctly]

That's not my problem.

My mom-- she disciplines,

But I don't think she disciplines 'em that well.

[Woman] because they're devils!

They don't listen!

All three of the girls--

They think that because we're deaf they can be wild.

[Man] I have got wild kids on my hands here.

It's--it's very stressful.

Cheeky.

At bedtime,

My sisters are crazy. They don't go to sleep on time.

Kiss my butt.

You are so a brat!

Shut up! No!

What kind of bedtime is this?

No!

[Woman] we do have challenges with communicating.

Jessica knows some sign language,

But it's not fluent, 'cause my mom talks.

No!

This is crazy.

These parents are not even teaching their kids

American sign language.

How can they communicate properly?

There's a little bit of a strange relationship

Between me and kip. He's my stepdad.

Sometimes we just stay away from each other.

It's like he's not really involved in what I'm doing.

This is really sad to see.

I feel that I have a lot of responsibilities on me.

Mom, how is it my responsibility?

You're the mom, not me. [Speaking indistinctly]

I'm kind of like the hearing mother, in a way.

Hit her-- stop! Kristin, knock it off!

These parents need to take responsibility of what's theirs.

I feel like sometimes that

I didn't really live a normal teenage life.

I had to grow up really fast.

You can leave, but you're going to bed early,

And you're not gettin' no snack.

I do not like it no more.

I'll let you pick.

I just want to be the sister.

I want to be there for 'em, not the mother.

This just isn't fair for this poor girl.

[Woman] I just feel like, uh, giving up with them--

With the rules and disciplining. We need help.

[Groans]

[Woman] we need your help, "supernanny."

Well, these parents certainly need my help.

I better get on my way.

Hello! Hello.

Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you.

How are you? Nice meeting you. Come on.

[Woman] when I first saw jo and she came into my home,

I felt relieved

To see her when she got there.

So I'll come up.

[Jo] I was welcomed very warmly,

And I was very pleased to see that the interpreter

Was there already to help me

Be able to have full communication with this family.

Who do we have here? Kristin.

I'm jo jo. And how old are you? .

. I'm jessica.

You're jessica. And how old are you, jessica? .

You're . And you're? Jennifer.

Hi, jennifer. Pleased to meet you. You're melissa.

Hi, melissa. Pleased to meet you. Nice meeting you.

When I first saw jo,

I couldn't believe that it was really happening.

My husband. Your husband. Hi. Pleased to meet you.

[Melissa] that's kip.

So today I'm gonna be observing your family,

So, please, just carry on.

[Jo] I wasn't in the house long

When I saw a clear example

Of how the children ignore their own mother.

They don't look at her facial expressions or her signs.

[Jo] the girls completely ignore their mom.

She asked them to put their shoes away,

And they just walked on by.

[Speaking indistinctly]

Where you going?

It's easy to get away because--

With stuff because my mom and dad are deaf.

What were they doing down there?

Jennifer's sister-- and whispers,

And I can't see what she's talking.

Jennifer--i-i can't hardly read her lips,

'Cause she covers her hand, see? I don't like

For them to be talking behind my back like that.

[Jo] some kids do speak behind their parents' backs,

But because these parents are deaf,

Their kids do it right underneath their nose.no, no!

And I think that's just disrespectful.

And it's not just the older girls that disrespect mom.

The younger girl kristin does the same.

[Woman] do you want some lunch?

Did you understand what your mom was saying? No?

You know, not only do these kids

Choose to ignore their parents,

But they don't know enough american sign language either.

'Cause melissa's really good at sign language,

It means that her parents rely on her all the time.

She becomes their interpreter /.

Stop hitting. Jes-- jessica, stop right now.

Do you want me to put the game away? No!

Pick this up.

Who's is it? Jessica.

Come here. [Jessica] why?

Because, I said. Come pick this up.

I can see that melissa's in a very difficult situation,

So I wanted to have a little talk with her,

Just to see how she's holding up.

What does it feel like for you as an year old

Having the responsibility

Of taking care of your three younger sisters?

I just feel bad because they don't listen to my mom,

But they'll listen to me.

Well, I'm interested in what it makes you feel.

I get-- I get overwhelmed...

Yeah. Sometimes.

Let's talk about this in your room.

Melissa's had a responsibility of a third parent,

And that's a lot for her to handle

As a young adult. I mean, she's years old.

I just think it'd be--

Like, it'd be really good for us

To be able to communicate

If we're all on the same page...mm-hmm.

You know? So the biggest thing that your parents

Could do for you right now would be what?

Just care for my sisters, and--

I just want what's best for my sisters.

But what's-- but, like,

Help me out, too, in a way, you know?

Just be there for me when I need 'em.

I don't even have time to be a kid anymore.

Like, that's over. I don't even have time. So what you're--

What you're really saying,

Even though that you're an -year-old woman

And you hold down two jobs and you earn your own dollar,

Inside there's just still this little girl

That wants to be held, huh?

Really? Huh?

Seriously, huh?

As an year old, huh? Yeah.

You still want to be able to reach out to your mom

And go, "mom, this is how I'm feeling," huh? Yeah.

Hmm?

Well, we're gonna work on this together.

Coming up on...

Well!

Things go bad at bedtime...

[Woman] please, please, please, I just need your help.

And later... [Woman] I know we're parents, but I think being deaf--

That doesn't make you any less a parent

Because you are deaf!

Jo's not in the mood to hear excuses.

It's your responsibility, not melissa's.

When "supernanny" returns.

Kip has been melissa's stepfather for nine years,

And for those nine years, it's been very strained.

I wanted to talk to him and find out more.

You have a relationship with melissa

That is-- [woman] no, I really don't.

You don't have one. We just don't get along.

She says she hates me.

Yeah, it hurts me, I gotta admit.

You know, i-i can sit alone and--and even cry about it,

Because there's no relationship between us.

I do love her. I love melissa.

But she needs--

We need our relationship-- our family and our future--

We just need to improve all of this.

I appreciate that. Thank you.

It was in the afternoon when I got to talk to kip,

And I realized that the kids treat him

Just like they do their mother-- nobody listens.

[Woman] I didn't give her permission,

And she didn't tell me where she was going.

She's just gonna go out and play.

I can't understand what she's saying.

It's hard when they take off behind me and I don't see 'em,

They don't come up to me, and they don't tell me.

[Jo] this family situation is not uncommon.

Over % of deaf parents

Have children who are hearing.

Later on in the evening,

The whole family sat down for dinner,

And kristin decided she didn't want green beans on her plate.

Ow!

I don't want--

No!

No, I don't want it!

Hey! No!

[Jo] mom had finally had enough,

So she decided to give kristin a time-out.

No!

No, no!

I had to go in the time-out today. Boo-hoo.

[Speaking indistinctly]

[Jo] mom had finally had things under control,

And then melissa walked in.

[Girl] melissa!

Melissa walked in,

And straightaway went over to kristin

And said, "right, let's sit down and finish your dinner."

I'm gonna come sit-- sit down.

I haven't ate yet. Do you want to eat with me?

No-- [speaking indistinctly]

I'm gonna--i'm-- I'm eating, too.okay.

And melissa automatically

Overrode her mom's decision,

And mom didn't do anything about it.

I brought something home if you eat all your dinner.

There really needs to be

Much said with regards

To these parents stepping up

So melissa feels that she can step back down.

What time is bedtime?[Woman] :.

Kip tells the girls to go to bed at :.

So bedtime in the baulisch family

Is incredibly late, to say the least.

Go to bed.

You're not the boss.

Well!

[Yelling]

[Jo] so they're up and down the hallway,

And mom and dad are up and down the hallway.

And you just see this classic example

Of three little girls saying,

"Great, we've got mom and dad's time..."

"And the only way we're gonna continue to have

"Their attention and time is if we're naughty,

So, hey, bingo-- we know what to do."

[Girls yelling and whimpering]

[Kip speaking indistinctly]

[Yelling]

[Jo] mom was absolutely exhausted,

And dad was getting more and more frustrated,

And you could see that this was a bubble

That was about to burst,

And this went on for like over two hours.

How are you feeling right now?

This is stress. It's just true stress.

They just don't listen.

[Jo] it became too much for mom.

She was very frustrated.

[Woman] I became angry.

I-i felt like it just kept building and building,

And I was gonna blow.

[Woman] please, please, please.

I just need your help.

You'll get my help. We will get to the bottom of this.

Okay.

Good.

Mom was so frustrated, and I knew I could help her.

I just couldn't wait for the next day

So I could get teaching.

The next morning,

I went to the baulisch household

And had a meeting with an interpreter behind me.

So today really what I want to do is to discuss the issues

That I feel need to be addressed

So that we can work really hard in finding a resolution

To these problems.

Let's talk about communication.

In every angle of your family's dynamic,

Communication has broke down.

How do you do the best you can as a parent

When your kids are not learning

American sign language?

[Woman] the girls do know some signs,

But sometimes they drop the sign

And they--they leave us parents out

Because we don't understand them clearly.

[Man] I want to help 'em. I want to teach 'em,

Sit down with a.s.l.-- The book, and teach 'em--

No, they just take off. They don't want to pay attention.

They don't want to listen.

It's mandatory. This isn't an option.

Let's talk about behavior here.

The kids' behavior is disrespectful.

They take advantage of the fact that you are both deaf.

They think, oh, well, mom and dad can't hear.

But it's not the point that you can't hear--

It's the point that actually your kids are growing up to feel

That it's okay to even talk to their parents

The way that they do.

And right now we've got two parents

Who want to throw the towel in, they want to give up.

There are no expectations set up for these kids,

Because you've taken that away from yourselves

When you decided to place melissa

In an authoritative figure in this house.

The kids do listen to melissa.

She's hearing.

I think they respect her more. I think it's--it's clear.

She's strict. I know we're parents,

But I think being deaf-- that doesn't make you

Any less a parent because you are deaf!

I feel so tired, and I do give up.

And I do want to go to melissa and say, "help,"

And she says, "no." You know, why won't you cooperate?

"You're the sister. Help mom and me,"

And she gets tired, and she doesn't want to.

Kip, melissa shouldn't have to.

You are the parents here.

Let's talk about melissa.

I spoke to her yesterday.

I couldn't even see her face,

She cried so much.

She wants to reach out to the pair of you as parents.

She's really in a lot of pain.

You know,

I want to go out and have fun with melissa,

Play around, but she gets so angry with me.

She just disagrees with everything I say.

We go back to arguing,

I say, "let's forget it, ido love you,

"Let's have a relationship,

"You know, clean up the house,

"You know, work with the kids, you know,

I'll help you, you help me."

She's been helping more than enough.

She's been helping you

Raise your kids,

And she is meant to be one of your kids.

Let's talk about bedtime.

Ridiculous!

And you're pushovers, the pair of you.

You've got to be firmer at bedtime,

But you've got to set up a routine

That allows these children to wind down.

Change can happen here in this house, and it can happen--

It can happen today.

Okay, give me your hands then,

Because together we make change, okay?

[Woman] yes, I promise.

And I look forward to starting some work.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Coming up on...

[Bleep]

Melissa! Get off of me!

Melissa explodes and runs out on her parents.

Melissa... And this time,

She might never come back.

When "supernanny" returns."

[Jo] I had a lot to teach these parents--

That it was about prioritizing

And establishing the house rules first.

I'm gonna make sure that melissa's not around

So that these parents can be parents.

You can see it up there. This is the sign for behavior.

I want you guys to do the same.

Watch at mom.

Let's start off with the first one.

"Sharing and respecting

Your belongings and others."

[Jo] I went through a list

Of what's acceptable and what isn't,

And the kids gave me sign language of "yes"

When they understood. "Look at mom and dad

When they are speaking to you."

It was the first time

That we had rules,

Because we never, ever had rules.

Oh, melissa, I'm glad you're here.

Just signing "yes" is not enough for these kids.

They need to become fluent with american sign language,

So at this particular moment,

I wanted to make sure that they could start to learn,

And I wanted melissa around for this.

What's going to happen

Is that every day there is going to be

A class that's gonna be held by mom or dad

So that you start to learn more and more

A.s.l. These kids

Are not gonna learn american sign language overnight.

But if the parents make it fun,

Then the kids will be motivated to learn.

Dad.

Dad.

House! House, house.

[Man] I hope that someday

They'll be very proficient in the language

And, you know,

We'll just understand each other so much better.

Flower! [Jo] I felt it was, you know,

A really good class for this family to have,

And I do believe that if they're consistent,

These kids are gonna catch on really, really quickly.

Girls, you did really well today.

You just stayed focused,

And you were watching mom,

Which was really important, and you guys did well.

Learning american sign language for this family

Is gonna change their communication for the better,

But it's certainly not gonna help the rift

Between melissa and kip.

Should we sit down here? Can we all sit down here?

This girl certainly needs to be heard,

And she needs her parents to be able to listen to her,

And together they need to be able to problem-solve

These issues, because they've been building up

For many, many years.

I feel that it's really important

That you have a conversation with melissa.

So to have this family

Just for once, and all sit down and talk and clear the air

Is going to be vital.

Can you go through some of the true feelings

That you're feeling right now?

You do everything for his kids,

And you don't even help me with anything.

You always talk about it.

You always talk-- you never do it.

Every time I say, "oh, let's go out shopping,

Let's go out shopping"-- "no, kip, kip, kip, kip.

No, he'll get mad. No money. I don't have no money."

Every time I'm at work, "oh, you go out to eat,

Out to eat, out to eat."

No--shut up, shut up, shut up!

[Woman] no, because you're never at home.

Wasn't successful,

And melissa was very, very angry.

She just--

She's had a bucketful. I mean, it's over her head.

[Bleep]

Melissa! Get off of me!

Melissa!

Melissa.

She doesn't know!

Melissa ran out because she thought it'd be a waste of time

Talking to her mom,

Because her mom has never validated how she's felt.

The thing is you're not talking to somebody who knows.

She doesn't know.

That's the difference.

Coming up on...

When I'm home,

I don't get treated with respect.

Can jo get mom and melissa talking again?

Why is it important for him not to give up?

And can kip and melissa settle their differences?

When "supernanny" returns.

After melissa ran out on the conversation with her mom

And stepdad, I convinced her to come back inside the house,

But only under one condition

Would she do so.

I don't feel comfortable having the conversation in front of kip

That I have with my mom. Okay.

I don't like that. Okay, so you know what we could do?

We could have this conversation with you and your mom.

To start the ball rolling in patching things up,

I knew it was important for melissa

To talk to her mom first,

And we could always deal with kip afterwards.

Okay. It's like, all you want

Is everything for your kids.

You want my help

Only if I'm babysitting

Or to clean the house,

To be your maid or something.

When I'm home, I don't get

Treat--

Treated with respect.

[Woman] I had no idea some of these things

That she had been feeling and holding in.

I feel like it's, uh,

You know, it-- all this time had passed,

And I wished she had told me, you know, a long time ago.

What I'd like to do now, dorothy, is talk to you

About what you should be doing as a mother,

And I want you to take it on the chin.

Dorothy needs to be strong enough as a mother

To support her daughter emotionally.

When you met kip,

It made melissa feel threatened by that.

Would I lose the closeness

Of my parent because now

She is going to be loving somebody else, as well?

That is a very shaky world

For a young child,

And so it's created

The hostility

That you see between kip

And melissa. [Woman] melissa has been holding a lot in,

And she's my daughter,

And I cherish her.

Her needs are important to me.

If she needs her mom, I want her to come to me.

I want to talk. I want to communicate.

So where do we go from here?

[Woman] we'll start from this point forward,

Anything you need, come to me.

I'm not gonna give up on you. I am not gonna give up on you.

I am with you for life.

Love you.

After our conversation, we then went and found kip,

But melissa could see

Exactly how upset kip was from the events of the day.

I'm trying to make it better.

You can't give up.

If I not give up, you can't.

Why is it important for him not to give up?

Because I love you.

That's why it's important-- because you love him.

Deep down, I know he loves me.

I know I love him, and he does care for me.

[Man] we needed that hug,

And I felt like we needed to communicate.

When you're deaf, you can't hear your kids playing up,

So I gave 'em tv monitors to be able to see

Exactly what was going on in the nighttime.

One in your and jennifer's room, and one in jessica's room.

Okay? Two screens.

One for mom and one for dad.

It's time for bed. When you've kissed them good night,

Then come into the sitting room with me,

And then I have further information to give you.

It was absolutely wonderful to see kip and dorothy

Very enthusiastic.

Whilst kip was finishing up with jessica,

It was important for me to go through

The bedtime technique with mom.

When you see your children come out of their bedroom,

You're gonna say, "time for bed, darling."

The second time they come out of their bedroom,

You sign to them with your face looking more serious,

"It's bedtime."

The third time when they come out of their bedroom

And then on, you say nothing.

You take 'em by the hand, and you place them

Back into their bed. Step number one.

Kristin's up. We keep comin' out of the bedroom.

There's no bear. I can't sleep.

It's bedtime, darling.

[Jo] when mom told the kids to go back to bed,

She meant business, and they knew exactly what she meant.

If she comes back out again, you say, "it's bedtime."

Say nothing else.

[Coughs]

No-- [speaking indistinctly]

Don't take-- don't take me away!

[Giggling]

Another book.

No, no, no!

[Jo] I was really proud of mom.

I mean, she was following the steps perfectly.

The girls weren't done yet.

No, no, no!

[Speaking indistinctly]

[Jo] the key to this bedtime technique is being persistent.

You gotta follow through.

With these kids coming up and down,

Up and down, you just gotta keep at it.

It's important for these parents to band together,

To work together as a team,

Because mom was getting completely wiped out.

So do what you would normally do, you know,

Sit on the sofa, put the tele on.

Do what you would normally do.

They mustn't think that you're waiting around

For them to make the next move.

You're getting on with your evening.

This is what you wanted. You wanted an evening. Yes.

Kip, wonderful tonight.

You sat on her bed, you read her that story.

It really was beautiful.

It was cool that my dad read me a story,

Because I haven't had it in years.

What's happening there?

[Woman] both of 'em.

I can see 'em-- I can see both arms.

Kristin's moving around. [Jo] with the new tv monitors,

It means that dorothy and kip

Can keep a real good eye on their kids

So they're not horsing around in their bedrooms.

[Woman] oh, it's calm.

It would take me three hours in the past

To get them to go to bed.

It was a struggle for three hours.

Now it's less than an hour.

This is perfect.

The technique worked

Because I had two parents who remained calm,

And that's what got you the change of behavior.

You did really, really well.

[Woman] peace. Look at this. That's universal.

Peace, in any language.

So I'm gonna be leaving

For several days now.

[Woman] thank you so very much in helping us.

We'll see you in three days.

You are more than welcome.

Know that tonight you proved to yourselves

That you're more than capable of doing

What's been taught over the last several days.

Good night.

[Woman] good night. [Jo] it was a busy day.

It had its ups and downs.

I just hope that they pull through the days

That I'm not gonna be there.

Coming up on...

You're not go.

Melissa's parents spring a surprise on her.

The last time she went on a cruise, she up and left us.

That's [bleep].

She just left me with all her responsibilities.

When "supernanny" returns.

♪♪♪♪♪

Are your kids picky eaters?

Then make mealtimes more enjoyable

By creating a place mat for eating new foods.

Your kids will enjoy exploring new tastes

And marking them off as they go.

[Jo] I've been away for three days, and I'm eager to see

Exactly how well this family have done.

Eager to look at what we have here.

[Woman] yes, we are. All right.

Happy, happy!

I do me.

[All] house!

Write it down.

Oh--where!where!

Where!where!

Mm... Tie, tie.

See? We all got one.

That's really fantastic.

You know, you've made it fun for the kids to learn

A.s.l., And so they're gonna want to come and do it

Again and again with you, you know?

And that's what it's all about,

And I just love your whole body language.

It spoke volumes there, kip.

You know, you were really playing with 'em

And teasing them, showing them the cards, you know?

Just great, and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

So keep it up. Well done. Keep it up.

I mean, it's absolutely brilliant, it really is.

I don't wanna! Go to bed.

[Woman] well, they went right to sleep.

So tell me, kip,

What have the evenings been like for you?

[Man] oh, I feel so much better.

I just feel at peace.

It's just-- everything is calmer.

I mean, you know, it's like taking a break or something.

I'm so happy. This is good for me,

And I really want to thank you, jo.

You're more than welcome, more than welcome.

[Woman] I am just shocked that our kids went to bed

And it worked. I feel so relaxed.

I just feel happy. It's been wonderful.

It's healthy for your family. Yeah.

Yes, it is, of course it is.

[Indistinct chatter]

Like, we had to walk through the...

[Girl] what color is it?

For just you?

No kids?

[Laughing] no! You're not go.

The last time she went on a cruise, she up and left us.

That's [bleep].

She just left me with all her responsibilities.

I was pretty much the parent for three--of three--that--

A whole week and a half. I was ...

At the time--.

Didn't go to school half the time.

I-i was here.

I was a wreck. It was bad.

[Woman] you know,

At the time, she was .

My father watched the kids for a week while she was,

You know, they were here,

And kip's sister was here for four days.

And they spent the night in their house for four days.

You know, it wasn't like that.

Melissa didn't stay all week like that.

Okay, well, it's obviously stirred some...

I understand that. Reaction from her-- in being worried about that.

History here shows me that she's had to take care

Of that responsibility, and because there's not been

Enough history laid down with her seeing her own parents

Get to grips with discipline,

That trust still needs to be developed, you know?

So right now to even bring up the thought of doing that

When she sees the ground still quite crumbled

And not laid smooth

And flat yet, is rather scary for melissa.

Those words of just being able to take her away and say to her,

"Hold on a minute, don't panic.

This is where we're at right now."

So it is something that we are gonna have to talk about.

I think it's gonna be important for, you know,

Us to sit around the table and have this conversation

With melissa. It takes time to build.

You know, it takes time to build.

Yeah?

I think you've seen very clearly

What you need to work on,

But there's been some great stuff there, as well. [Woman] yes, yes.

It's very clear, very clear.

And rome wasn't built in a day,

So let's move on and do what we need to do today

In order to patch these things up.

Yes, we're gonna keep it going.

Well, we're gonna fight for this.

Okay, so let's get going.

Coming up on...

Can melissa patch things up

With her parents before jo leaves,

Or will things go horribly wrong?

You not call us. Nothing.

[Woman] it really hit me. It really hurt me.

When "supernanny" returns.

When reinforcement began, I wanted the girls to realize

That they're gonna continue to learn the basics

Of american sign language, but doing so is gonna be fun.

We're gonna play a game with the kids.

These are the rules to the game.

Each child has to take their turn and roll the dice.

The dice will determine-- whatever number it lands on--

The amount of steps

They will take forward

If they get the sign correct.

Jennifer, you start.

Okay. Dad.

[Woman] that's right.

Well done. Two, three.

Okay.

In your words. Pig.

[Woman] that's right, that's right. Okay, kristin.

Three!

Three.

Bird.

[Woman] that's right.

The baulisch family need to keep thinking of creative ways

Of making american sign language fun.

The more they can do that,

The more their communication gets better.

Mad!

All right, one, two.

It was cute to see the girls having fun

With no fighting, and at the same time,

They're learning american sign language. Two.

Two. Okay, jessica. Dad.

They've certainly learned a lot whilst I've been there,

And these kids can see the light at the end of the tunnel,

Recognizing that their parents

Are willing to want to spend time with them.

Ball!

[Jo] you're the winner!

[Man] it was so neat to see my three girls there.

I just think it's gonna teach 'em so much sign language.

They were all happy.

All right, good sportsmanship. Give each other a hug.

Come on, everybody, give each other a hug!

That was a good game-- really good game!

Did you like that game? That was a good game.

After the dice game,

There was still one more issue to deal with,

And that was to get melissa to tell her parents

Exactly how she felt about them going on a cruise.

[Woman] just the fact that she was able to tell me that,

It--you know, I was happy about that,

But--but it really hit me. It really hurt me.

I feel happy that you told me how you felt

On what's going on-- how you feel like that.

It's time for change. [Woman] from this point on,

She's not going to be a mother figure.

She's going to be the sister.

You know, I have taken that off her shoulders.

That's my, you know, burden to carry now.

[Whispering] I love you, too. [Jo] I love you.

[Man] she got a lot out,

And I learned that I need to communicate with her more.

I just want us to be happy as a family.

Let's not think about the past.

Let's-- let's start new.

Yes. Every day-- every day new.

It took so much off my shoulders.

I felt--i felt great for them to actually--

Just to hear 'em say, "okay, yeah,

I'll take responsibility as a parent."

Conversation. Conversation.

I'm glad it ended

With them hugging each other and--and laughing,

And that's how it should be, you know?

Well, listen, jo jo is going home now, okay?

And I just wanted really to say to the pair of you

That it's important to continue doing the work

That you're doing. [Woman] I'll keep it up, and I'll keep it going.

You must, you know, you must. It's very important,

Otherwise that breakdown

In communication will be there again.

Both dorothy and kip have realized

That if they want positive results

And a change of behavior, they've gotta recognize

How they change it themselves first.

Just follow through, and keep doing it.

All right, it's a matter of just keep--keep on doing it.

[Woman] before jo arrived,

I was so stressed out.

I had given up,

And then jo offered me a chance to change

And to become a new mom.

You take care of yourself, huh?

And--and let your parents know what you need.

Okay. Today I'm really proud how you just turned it around.

[Melissa] I just want to thank jo

For everything she's done for my family.

She's brought me and my mom

And my dad's relationship

So much closer.

It's been a wonderful experience.

You've done really well at going to bed in your own room.

I certainly feel that when I first arrived in this family,

The lid had popped open,

And it was almost like everybody had permission

To just let off steam, and I feel through being able

To really support each family member

And bring them all together,

It has allowed them really to push through those hard times.

[Woman] I just needed to thank her.

She has helped me so much.

I mean, % I feel like I've learned from her.

Bye, kip. Bye-bye.

[Man] I'm thankful to jo.

I believe that she has helped us a lot.

Bye, jo jo! Bye, loveys!

Thank you for helping my family, jo jo.

[Jo] I thank them for being brave enough

In allowing me into their home

And to really explore the challenges

That they face every day.

[Screaming]

I didn't do it.

[Giggling]

Loser!

[Whispering indistinctly]

Jennifer, I'm gonna throw 'em off the cliff!

Hey!

Sucker!

Go get it!