(OR THEY COULD WIND UP IN FOSTER CARE)

The Administration for Children's Services says it never takes children because of poverty alone.   That's also what they say at the scores of private foster care agencies that contract with ACS.   And that's certainly how it looks in the newspapers, where the parents who lose children to foster care almost always are accused of brutal beatings, rape or torture.

Most of the year, anyway.   But the picture changes during that time between Halloween and Spring we'll call Neediest Cases Season.   That's when The New York Times runs daily stories to illustrate why New Yorkers should contribute to its Neediest Cases Fund.

Suddenly, some of the same agencies that never keep children because of poverty alone say that it was only funds from a charity that stopped children from being taken because of poverty alone.   ACS is revealed to be on the verge of taking away children solely because their homes are too crowded or they lack proper furnishings.   And one newspaper discovers that a lot of families on the verge of losing their children to foster care don't fit the stereotype.   As the headline on one such story put it: "A Little Help Keeps a Family Together."

The families in the examples below are the lucky few.   They "hit the jackpot" and found a smart, compassionate worker.   Then that worker hit the jackpot - usually less than $2,000 -- in funds from a charity.   What about all the families who don't hit these tiny little jackpots?   Providing basic help to keep children out of foster care should be the rule, not the exception.   A family should be a child's right, not a holiday gift.

· Ana Guzman had been caring for two grandchildren, but the expenses became too much when a daughter died and she took in four more.   The Children's Aid Society, one of the city's largest foster care providers, used the Neediest Cases Fund to provide $1,200 to buy the children clothes, and $300 for day camp scholarships.   “These four kids could end up in foster care very easily,” CAS Executive Director Phil Coltoff told the Times .   “Here is an opportunity for the kids to stay in the same school and the same community, as long as their grandmother was given some help.” [i]

· Mary Franke Davis told the Times that “her children are the joy of her life … and her primary concern each day.”   But, the Times reported:

“Ms. Davis's children were recently at risk of being taken away, she said, because the New York City Administration for Children's Services was worried about their welfare last year. What the inspectors for the agency must have been most struck by was the children's cluttered living arrangement in the five-room   apartment. The three girls were sleeping in one king-size bed and the three boys were sleeping on bare mattresses. The lint coming off them was worsening the asthma of the 8-year-old, Michael.

 

“[T]he Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies … gave Ms. Davis $1,182.09 from the [Neediest Cases] fund so she could buy three beds, two mattresses, a set of bed railings and a dresser to improve the living conditions in the apartment and help keep the family together … Ms. Davis said she could not afford to buy furniture.   ‘All my money was going to the rent and the food and the clothes,' she said. ‘Now, everything's O.K'” [ii]

· New beds turned out to be the answer for Melody Williams' family, too.   Williams took in six of her sister's children when the sister lost custody.   There also are two children of her own.   Her half sister and her baby also share the apartment.   Thanks to the Neediest Cases Fund, the Children's Aid Society was able to buy the family beds and dressers.    According to the Times , the CAS worker who bought the furniture thinks it helped Williams keep custody of her children.    “Four girls had to share two beds, and three boys were sleeping in a metal bunk bed that was held together by duct tape,” the worker said, “…I don't know what ACS would have thought with so many girls sleeping in the same bed.” [iii]

· For Carolyn Braddy, a mother confined to a wheelchair by Multiple Sclerosis, the issue was housing.   With her income limited to SSI disability payments, she fell behind on her rent, and couldn't get a Section 8 housing subsidy for her apartment in a subsidized housing complex.   A worker for the Community Service Society, Brent Sharman, used Neediest Cases money for the back rent, but a bureaucratic error made it appear she had fallen behind again.   And this time, she got an eviction notice.   CSS cleared up the confusion – just in time.

According to the Times : “The day she got the eviction notice, she was visited by Children's Protective Services … which had been alerted when that notice was sent.   ‘I was alarmed that this could actually go to a ridiculous scenario where Ms. Braddy would be evicted and her children would be taken away from her and placed in foster care.'” [iv]

· As Lillie Hallman lay dying of illnesses related to AIDS, she begged her mother, who had come to New York from Charlotte, N.C. to “do everything you can in this world” for Lillie's children.   But ACS wasn't going to make that easy.   The four children were split up among an institution in Westchester and foster families in Brooklyn and Long Island, run by three different private agencies.   According to the Times :

“In order to gain custody of the children, Ms. Hallman had to first prove to a judge that she could provide a home that meets city and state guidelines for foster care.   She had to find a suitable apartment, but she did not have enough money to rent one. She had spent all her savings during three years of monthly bus and train trips between Charlotte and New York.”

 

Only one of the three different agencies controlling the children's lives apparently saw any problem with this.   That agency tapped Neediest Cases money to help Ms. Hallman find an apartment and keep her going while helping her receive various forms of public assistance.   Three of the children were returned.   But when the story was written, the fourth, who has severe medical problems, was still in foster care.   According to the Times , that child   “remains in the care of a Massapequa family until Ms. Hallman can prove to the Administration for Children's Services that she can care for him.” [v]

 

[i] Aaron Donovan, “The Neediest Cases: A Little Help Keeps a Family Together,” The New York Times , January 13, 2000.

[ii] Aaron Donovan, “The Neediest Cases: Money for New Beds Helps to Keep a Family Together ,” The New York Times , Feb. 1, 2000.

[iii] Aaron Donovan, “The Neediest Cases: A Household of 12 Gets More Resources to Stretch,” The New York Times , January 12, 2001

[iv] Arthur Bovino, “The Neediest Cases: Back-Rent Aid for Brooklyn Mother of Four Who is Afflicted With Multiple Sclerosis,” The New York Times , Jan. 21, 2003.

[v] Aaron Donovan, “The Neediest Cases: Grieving Grandmother Struggles to Reunite a Family,” The New York Times , Dec. 29, 2000.