Story Archives 2001

pstrong pHere we go, Its "C" Day.br //p pI have little say about it./p p/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe B./p pSaturday, Oct. 6, 2001 – 5:30 am. I’ve just finished taking a shower missing the 10am appointment at Poor Magazine. /p pMarket Street is not busy there’s always a few street folks around and a couple of tourists strolling down the street./p pFor breakfast sausages, three egg omelet, potatoes, and orange juice making me late ordering them at 9:15 am, eating them by 9:27 oh well, a guys gotta eat, it might be the only food eaten all day. /p pI’m late but not late enough or its cancelled, "darn it" Guess I’ll be at a table, sell some of the Magazines, give away free pamphlets, and explain the why’s ‘n how’s POOR Magazine’s birth by the Mother/Daughter team of Dee and Lisa Gray-Garcia./p pI really do like my Saturday and Wednesday’s off when I have actually nothing to do but work on stuff of my own./p pBrought water, comfortable shoes, tee-shirt, sweat shirt in case of a change of weather, bring a book, and some money to buy food or bag lunch also extra batteries for the taperecorder./p pSunday, Oct. 7, headed toward Portrero hill for a free Sunday meal./p p Glad I bought that $35 buspass because I didn’t feel like scrounging for a dollar or walking today. I go there, they had black eyed peas over rice so I gave my number to a woman almost finished with her first or second meal. /p pIt will be a long time before I buy another buspass unless someone sells it cheaper./p pI go to Food-Co, bought two tabloid newspapers, vegie burger,br / soap, and an American mug with the flag on it then looking on the bottom I see ‘MADE IN CHINA, now I don’t know if China is making money from these things or America is from a global economic perspective – I buy the cup anyway and get a few more for my mother, brother, and sister-in-law./p pI found my taperecorder which I thought lost in West Oakland that’s a relief./p p12:46 pm after lunch in Saint Anthony’s I find a plastic inhaler that contracts so by pressing the other end with spray inside makes it possible to more easily get contents into mouth, throat, and lungs quicker. Someone left it, forgot it, its mine now. Even though I walk, exercise, taking long walks, or sex to control my asthema (don’t knock it )sex works great, you just have to remain calm and … controlled is all. There are times when attacks happen when you least expect it, you wake up and you’re out of breath, or walking an it hits, sometimes being stressed out over keeping the place clean and neat so you don’t get thrown out or over what’s happening to family and friends far away can bring on an asthema attack, being around smoke, other people’s pet can set it off. Having an inhaler for emergencies is what I need sometimes and this is an opportunity I could not pass up./p pSo until my lungs regenerate into new healthy ones or clones of my own are available I’ll keep the inhaler given to me by an angel, or some mortal with too much on their mind too remember it.br //p pAbout 6:10 or 15 pm I turned on the tv the stations 7, 4, 9, and found out while I was eating lunch, the first airstrikes began in Afghanistan, dropping food also outside anti-protesters marched the length of Market Street. /p pMe and a employee of where I live stood on the sidewalk watching the procession move forward./p pOn the sidewalk were the ‘Love in or leave it ‘ contingent, we also have papers given to us. /p pI go back inside my building thinking "so far no clashes between war and anti war patriots because make no mistakes there patriots on both sides of this conflict all I can do is be balanced which will be difficult knowing people are going to die in this openly "secret war" Maybe some weird comic novel in the vein of the late Mr. Douglas Adams will help a little though I hope I have an 8th of his talent and humor.br / /ppHope this conflict does not last for years but if it does I’ve got my life to deal with too./p pMonday, Oct. 8, 2001, Columbus Day, 8:55 am. Market Street is less crowded, it might be like this for a long while./p pI’m not doing to much today, still trying to figure out how Capt. Christopher Columbus with backing from Queen Isabella of Spain gets lost, land in an uncharted place, see people greet them already living there and say they discovered the place?/p pAnother thing to ponder is a guy named "Americo Verspuci who tells tales about this new, fertile land of untold riches but has never set foot there and yet have his name? This could be the origin of our contradictions. Bye/p pbWhat do you think?br / /b/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pIf I'm non American and food,br / radio's and bombs arebr / dropped in my country./p pI wouldn't trust anythingbr / from the sky at the momentbr / unless friends or othersbr / showed me these things./p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe B./p pEver heard the expressionbr / "Death From The Skies"? I believe its a World War 1 term with byplanes rata tat tatting with machine guns mounted on the plane synchronized to fire betweenbr / rotating propellers of the planes./p pTuesday, Oct. 9, 2001, 8:25 am. A slow, leisurely shower, brushing flossing, teeth, feeling refreshed, ready to work (not). /p pA few hardy tourists and street folk glide apon red brick and discolored cement of Market Street. /p pThe buspass came in handy today I may have to rethink spending $35 dollars a month or finding someone to sell it me cheap like 10 or 15 dollars which is affordable even cheaper if possible. /p pIn two days it will be exactly a month after the WTCb[World Trade Center]br / /b boming in New York. /p p A bombing that at first devistated and later supposedly strenghtened and united us in our resolve to seek out the people that planned this mass killing of innocent civilians on our own soil which we thought as inviolate./p pI'm still slightly dazed but going about my work as most people are trying to do in the face of home and foreign grown terrorism./p pHow long will this war will rage I've no idea, my only hope is the change in us is a possitive long lasting one leading to a fully mature nation to join with other nations in peaceful global cooporation.br / br /If you have questions, answers, thoughts, join the club... Bye./p pbr /Please send donations to POOR Magazinebr / br /C/0 Ask Joe 255 9th Streetbr / br /San Francisco,94103 USA. /p pbr /For Joe only my snail mail:br / br /PO Box 1230 #645br / br / Market St. San Francisco, C A. 94102br / br /Email: askjoe@ poormagazine.orgbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pJust Thinking aloudbr / about our tricolor symbolbr / cloth and silk./p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe B./p pI've been thinking of the many reprensentations of our American Flag. /p pBesides Scott Key's inspired poem-set to song during the mother country of England's conflict with thirteen colonies./p pMost of whom thought it a daft, crazy, or a lost cause. /p pEventually others get pissed off with England's higher taxes. /p pIn the late 1770's or '80's being this new type of independant people called American is no longer a joke told around the titled gentleman or circles of power in Parliment./p pb"NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION."/b /p pIt was a foolish, close, bold, and ultimately smart thing that had to be done if a new nation is to rise./p pEnough of our tortured, birth and short history. /p pOur flag should represent many views. I envision those 60 peice symbol and 70's yellow smile icon that in the 1980's and 90's became angry, crooked, slanted, and angry in turns. /p pOr a 3D graphic of the flag dripping blood from the red stripes onto the white ones, from small specks to large pools all across-with drips also falling from some of the stars too./p pThe gray or black flag = Death, nation and gay rainbow flag mixed with other past, post modern, to futurist renditions of our enduring symbol plus the same for our national bird and our many states animals, flower symbols./p pIt will take one humongous flag to take all that on but we have competent artists of all persuasions to combine all the elements equally excluding myself./p pThat could be one of many ways we can further heal our selves and give the country a possitive psychological boost and morale builder./p pAny other ideas-ladies, men, boys 'n girls tell me about them? Bye. /p pPlease donate what can to br /Poor Magazine orbr / br /C/0 Ask /ppJoe at 255 9th St.br / br /Street, San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pFor Joe only my snailbr / br /mail:PO Box 1230 #645br / br /Market St.San Francisco, /ppCA 94102br / br /Email:askjoe@poormagazine. org/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongJoAnn McGuckin lost custody of all six children Friday, July 13, 2001. The state has permanent custody- what will happen to JoAnn the mother without her children?/strong/p p/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pTo: JoAnn McGuckin- PERSONALbr /br / From: Dee @ POOR Magazinebr /br / Re: YOU ARE A MOTHER!!!YOU ARE A HERO - DUE TO THE SIMPLE FACT THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN LIFE TO SEVEN CHILDREN!!!!!/p pDear Ms. McGuckin,/p pThis is our second letter to you and your children. What we are hearing in the news about you is making us very angry./p pThe news reports say your children have been taken into "protective custody" and given to three families./p pThe children are reported to be healthy and well – yet you are in jail for "felony neglect" – FOR WHAT??/p pWe as a society are guilty of "felony neglect"- we and your neighbors, townspeople, and the judge that handed down that charge./p pWhere were that judge and townfolk when you were struggling to care for your ill husband through his death while also caring for your children?/p pThey are guilty of "neglect" for not supporting you emotionally when your husband passed away./p pThat judge is not aware of your struggle or is just a plain misogynist. /p pYou are a mother!! Instead of a criminal sentence you should be receiving an award ./p pSeven children- all healthy; they are all so desirable that three families want them./p pWell, how did those kids become so desirable – because you and your husband- and especially you- cared for them and raised them well./p pCounty Social Workers in child Protective Services for the most part are trained to blame the parents and remove the children from the parents. /p pAll you need is some time, crisis counseling and an in-home care provider and some financial support – food stamps, rent subsidy, an attorney that believes in parental rights and perhaps some training in computer technology or another field that you might like and could make some money in to help support your family./p pYou have been carrying a very heavy burden and yet your children are all well. I am a social worker and a therapist and I am giving you advice based on much experience in my field (and personal experience as a mother )./p pDO NOT BE A VICTIM HERE- DO NOT LET THESE PEOPLE BLAME YOU– DON"T LET THEM BREAK UP YOUR FAMLY!!!/p pTHEY want to care about your children- what about you?? They need to care for you!! /p pYou are the children’s mother!! You gave life to 7 children. You are a HERO!!! These people did not help you in your struggle to raise these children, in your crisis, in your pain- they are the only ones guilty of felony neglect!!/p pRespectfully, /p pDee Gray, M.S.W., M.F.T.br /br / Co-editor, POOR Magazine/p pLisa Gray-Garcia (daughter of Dee )br /br / Co-editor, POOR Magazine /p pPS: We believe what you need first is a rest. Someone needs to donate a trip for you for 3 or 4 days to a resort. Then another trip for you and your children to Acapulco, Mexico, or any other place that has an ocean, for a week to swim, scuba dive, and build sand castles./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongA mother in Urbana, Illinois is ordered to get a larger apartment, stop breast feeding in order to get her son back. /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p pWe have been following the case of the mother whose son was taken away from her by the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services for her breast feeding practices.. The prosecution began when a baby-sitter claimed that the mother was breast feeding her 6 year old son against his will. The DCFS put the child in foster care in July and the Champaign County States Attorney’s office decided to prosecute the mother for abuse and neglect. Judge Ann Einhorn initially ruled that the mother had exposed her son to "enormous potential" for emotional harm. She reversed herself on Dec. 27 and gave the mother 6 moths probation and a list of conditions to meet in order to get her son back.br / The mother countered the allegations by explaining that she was practicing "child-led weaning", where the child would decide when to stop weaning. She claimed that her son gave her no indication that he was ready to stop breast feeding. DCFS also claimed that the son slept in the same bed with the mother and that this was a factor in his removal from the home. The mother explained to the court that she was living in a small apartment that did not have an extra room for him to sleep in. /pp La Leche League reports that several states have prosecuted women for extended breast feeding practices. A Minnesota case against a woman who was supposedly breast feeding a 6 year old in public was dropped when the child was found to be 3 years old. Similar cases of abuse were filed in Florida and Tennessee, but the women were either acquitted or charges were dismissed. The Urbana case would be the first in which a woman was successfully prosecuted for extended breast feeding practices. /pp The mother's insistence that she was practicing "child-led weaning" was ignored by the judge. Articles in the Chicago Tribune and the AP wire insinuated that there was something inappropriate about the mother's continued nursing of her son. A study on advanced aged breast feeding* that was admitted into evidence in the case showed that 34% of parents were still breast feeding after the age of 4. The Associated Press characterized this percentage as "rare, but not unheard of". The mother in Urbana was prosecuted for a practice she has in common with many American families.br / Recent studies have shown that breast feeding into late childhood can be advantageous to the health of the child. There have been numerous studies to show that there is a high correspondence between strong immune systems and breast feeding. There have also been studies to show that the benefits accrue with breast feeding beyond infancy. The US Surgeon General has called any child that is breast feeding at the age of 2 years, "lucky". The WHO reports that the average age of weaning worldwide is 4.2 years. Though this statistic has been called into question, it is clear that many cultures support extended breast feeding as common practice. /pp The most disturbing part of Judge Einhorn's ruling is that, in order to comply fully, the mother must move into a larger dwelling that has an extra bedroom for her son (which she has already done). If poverty is criminalized to the extent that children can be removed from single room occupancies, then few people would be secure in their family's safety. Would affluence have kept this woman and her son together?br / The mother accused the Illinois state Department of Child and Family Services of cultural bias and said they never fully investigated the situation. There is much foundation to thisbr / accusation. The mother explained her nursing philosophy quite clearly and the defense demonstrated that it is a common practice. The only condition that set her apart from mothers around the country was her poverty and it was this factor that made her a target of DCFS. /pp *The study by Texas AM anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler dealt with 1280 families who self-reported breast feeding practices. 375 were still breast feeding at age 4. /pp/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongHow Do I Help My Daughter?br /br / Carmen's* Story/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pI knew that there was something wrong with my daughter. I knewbr / that she was sick, had some sort of illness that was making her continue tobr / gain weight. She just kept gaining and gaining, and I knew that her healthbr / was at risk. What I didn'tbr / know was how to help her. All I could do was try to take care of her inbr / the best way, the only way that I knew how. No parent wants to sit therebr / and watch their child become sicker and sicker, weaker and weaker. Nobr / parent wants to believe that they are helpless to aid their child, or evenbr / worse, that they are making their child even more ill. But then again,br / there is no parent who could find it easy to deny their child food, tobr / forcefully stop her from eating when all she can do is plead for more./p pWe were trying to help our daughter. We took her to doctors, andbr / all they did was confuse us even more. No one seemed able to give us anybr / real answers about what was happening to her. So when Child Protectivebr / Services came to take her away that day, we could say nothing to defendbr / themselves. Watching my daughter being taken away from us, seeing her inbr / so much fear, so much misery, it was like my whole world was falling apart.br / Not only was this poor little child facing this terrible illness, but nowbr / she was being removed from the only family that she ever knew, the onlybr / people who had ever nurtured and loved her. Why these people believed thatbr / foster parents, strangers, in fact, could take better care of our daughterbr / than we could, I will never know. All I do understand is that instead ofbr / helping us, instead of keeping us united as a family, and providing us withbr / the resources and information that we needed to battle my daughtersbr / condition and the resulting weight problem, these officials ripped mybr / family apart. The very organization whose job it is to work for andbr / protect children and families decided instead to subject a defenselessbr / three- year- old girl to a trauma like none she had ever known before./p pNow we know that my daughter probably has a disease that preventsbr / her from ever knowing that she is full. She gets no satisfaction frombr / eating, and that's why she can't seem to stop. Instead of helping us tobr / learn about this disease and how to help her, however, C.P.S. and thebr / courts have kept us and our daughter apart. Not only are we facing abr / struggle against my daughter's health problems, but now we are alsobr / dealing with another tragedy: the separation that our family has had tobr / endure, and the trauma that my daughter experienced because of it./p pi*names changed to protect identity./i/p pbCourtWatch Responds***/b /ppIn the case of Carmen* and her daughter, the staff at CourtWatchbr / felt immediately obligated to assist and advocate for this family in anybr / way that we could.br / We first heard about this injustice on a talk radio show on KGO. Itbr / captured our attention because Carmen's daughter was removed from herbr / parents' care with little or no investigation of her health condition, evenbr / though there was a strong possibility that her weight was a result of abr / rare disorder and not neglect on the part of her family. Rather thanbr / offering to help Carmen's family find the resources that they needed tobr / address their daughter's problem, Child Protective Services criminalizedbr / the parents and mercilessly ripped their child away from them, placing herbr / in the care of foster parents who knew even less about her condition thanbr / Carmen and her husband./p pBecause the case received a great deal of attention from the media,br / the judge instituted a gag order, and the staff at Poor Magazine was unablebr / to receive any further information about the case or to make contact withbr / the family itself. Since we felt that it was imperative to offer thembr / whatever help we could, however, we decided to advocate for Carmen and herbr / husband in the form of a series of communications with the judge who heardbr / the case and the C.P.S. worker who was handling it. We also attempted tobr / contact the families' attorney, and made numerous calls to his officebr / offering our assistance, but as of yet we have not heard from him./p pAs soon as we hear any news regarding this case and/or others likebr / it, Poor Magazine will include that timely information in the CourtWatchbr / column./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongHR 221 Faces Senate Vote/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pAmish families in Pennsylvania are seeking to rewrite laws concerning child labor. Traditional family life for the Amish includes work for children. Religious and secular education ends at the age of 14 for the Amish; This is the age that Amish youth are expected to become productive members of society. /p pFederal law prevents children under 16 from working at manufacturing jobs, and children under 18 from working under certain types of hazardous conditions./p pMany Amish communities rely on sawmills and other manufacturing plants as cornerstones of their economy. The Justice Department prosecuted several people for allowing youth to work in plants./p pThe Amish have been lobbying for a change in the laws. HR 221 provides a waiver for Amish children from current child labor laws. It passed in the House of Representatives on March 2, 1999 and now faces a Senate vote. /p pSupporters of the bill feel that it promotes the Amish tradition of apprenticeship. They feel it will help Amish families remain solvent and retain their culture. There are over 150,000 Amish people in the US and Canada. /ppDetractors worry that children do not have the attention span of adults and that they are more likely to be injured by heavy equipment.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongImportant Supreme Court Decision Pending on Medical Privacy Rights: Mothers drug-tested without consent, then charged with abuse.br / /strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pThe Supreme Court heard arguments in October in the case of Ferguson v. City of Charleston (South Carolina). Their decision will be crucial in defining pregnant women’s access to their Fourth Amendment Rights./p p The case revolves around a concerted effort by Charleston authorities to test pregnant women for drugs and then charge them with child abuse against their unborn children./p p30 women have been arrested at the Medical University of South Carolina over the past five years. Nurses and doctors, working with local authorities, tested women for cocaine use bwithout their consent/b during childbirth procedures. Positive tests led to arrests. Some women were taken to jail while they were recovering from childbirth. Some were offered drug treatment as an option; others were not./p p10 women sued the state, charging that their Fourth Amendment Rights had been violated. The Fourth Amendment offers protection against illegal searches, such as those executed without a warrant. The case has reached the high court.br / The arguments revolve around an earlier court decision that allows exceptions in cases of special need. If taking the time to get a warrant puts others in danger, than searches are acceptable. Drunk driving breathalyzer tests fall under this exception. South Carolina attorneys are arguing that the fetus is a third party in imminent danger. Justice Ginsberg asked attorneys how jailing pregnant women would support unborn children’s health./p pThe other issue at stake is the way the health care workers and authorities targeted women to be tested. “Inadequate prenatal care” was one of the criteria given. 29 of the 30 women arrested were African American. Cocaine was the drug tested for, though numerous substances, legal and illegal, can affect fetal health. The AMA among others have opposed the policy. Experts feel it will drive women away from much- needed prenatal care and increase the health risks that their children will face. The decision is pending./p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongThe parents who wrote this piece are working with POOR magazine's, "POOR MOTHERS SPEAK" series, a writer's workshop for low-income mothers and children./strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/515/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN Staff/p p/pPI never did like the algae green color of my shag carpet, but somehow today it seemed strangely comforting as the dusty acrylic fibers captured my over-flowing tears. I had just hung up the phone with a unit supervisor in Child Protective Services, (CPS) a branch of the juvenile dependency court, my fourth in a series of countless calls to get Isome/i information about my daughter...after several minutes of desperate pleading he hung up on me, accusing me of being "difficult..."/p p/pPIt was several weeks since my 14-year-old daughter came home at 4:30 am, I told her she couldn't go out again at night for the whole rest of the week. The next day after school she didn't come home at all- she stayed away for a 5 days, I found out that she ran away with a thirty two year old man - I resolved then and there that she wouldn't be able to go out at night at all.../p p/pPFor this decision, I was under investigation for "emotional abuse" from Child Protective Services, and today, six weeks later, my daughter is warehoused in a foster home where she is "AWOL" i.e., she stayed out all night, six or eight times, "they're not sure". CPS believes that the "care" my daughter receives in this foster home is preferable to the care she receives at home, and in fact they characterize her runaway status as "just being a normal teenager".br / /pPbr / I called the worker to protest this situation and once again they terminated the call because I objected to their definition of "normal" I was told by my attorney once again that I was considered "difficult," which in CPS-speak is a very serious label. The two worst things you can be in this eerie Kafka-esque branch of bureaucracy are "difficult" or "threatening." The "Difficult" label can be attained by merely calling the CPS workers too many times, or leaving too many voice mail messages" in other words being upset, persistent, or proactive./p p/pPTo achieve the "threatening" label one must have the wrong tone to one's voice, when calling and/or leaving voice mail, as well as calling too many times or leaving too many messages, In other words, being extremely upset or frustrated that you're getting the runaround when you're calling to find out what's happening with your child. They used all of this against me in the final court proceedings (as they do with all the parents who question their position).....br / /pPThe last jurisdictional hearing;br / /pP"Your honor - the CPS workers on this case have found the parent to be difficult and often times threatening - she has left countless voice mail messages and sent an endless stream of letters to the department, due to these threatening actions we believe she is mentally unstable and paranoid, It is our recommendation that she undergo two psychiatric evaluations before she is allowed to receive reunification services, It is also our belief that her overly strict parenting style has put the child in conflict, forcing her to rebel even further, when in fact she was only trying to be a normal teenager, establishing her independence..."br / br /br / /pPIn Los Angeles county, an extremely high percentage of children are in foster care, higher than any other county in the state. As well, low income families and families of color are the targets of most CPS investigations nationwide. Existent parental rights laws were recently changed, decreasing the amount of time Juvenile dependency workers must wait before terminating parental rights for children under five years old, it has changed from an 18 month waiting period to a mere six months, to enable a speedy and biased court trial, with irrevocable consequences for the parents.br / /pPbr / There is an upcoming legislation "AB 804 which considers home schooling, "educational abuse." Finally, CPS and its workers have full immunity, this last fact feels very much like another branch of government's ability to stop and search due to "probable cause."br / /pPbr / Our society's commitment to independence and individualism leads to the rampant separation of families, in pursuit of the so-called "normal" teen experience. Eager mental health professionals and/or unlicensed child welfare workers have been given the power by the juvenile court system to make pseudo-psychiatric diagnoses and permanently sever parental ties.br / /pPbr / POOR magazine in collaboration with Family Rights and Dignity, Families with a Future and several other organizations locally and nationally are investigating the county foster care system, juvenile dependency court and Child Protective Services. We at POOR, also believe in the concept of the community helping to heal the "dysfunctional" family rather than throwing it away, such as some of the revolutionary ideas being tried in Minnesota with the Community support/ community policing programs.br / /pPbr / As I held in my breath, my eyes focused on the now-tear stained carpet while I made one more call to my "worker" after the final Jurisdiction trial;br / /pPbr / "Where is my daughter? Is she in school? Has she seen her therapist?" I asked in a broken whisper.br / /pPbr / "Well, she is staying with a friend... Sometimes"br / /pPbr / Who is the friend?br / /pPbr / She's a 17-year-old girl - we don't know her or her phone number, but your daughter does call in to check once in a while.br / /pPbr / "Then she's a runaway - why don't you have the police pick her up and take her back to the foster home?"br / /pPbr / "Because she doesn't want to be in foster care - and there's nothing we can do...(click) "/p pBR / /p pbEPILOGUE/b/p pChild Protective Services is a closed system with unlimited power and NO ACCOUNTABILITY./p pOne Child Protective Services worker said, "It doesn’t matter what complaint you make about me. I have been working here for 10 years." This worker had the responsibility of deciding who should have custody of a baby. The parent she chose put that baby in the oven and roasted her. /p pThe worker was not fired./p pWhatever decision Child Protective Services (CPS) makes the Juvenile Dependency (JD) Court accepts as scripture. There is no accountability in the JD Court of Law./p pRefer to the PNN Court Watch column, case study #1.ANN. Despite all of the evidence from psychiatrists, teachers, social workers, etc. this minor was sent to a very young, inexperienced family member in Baltimore. Of course the placement failed./p pDue to negligence and indifference on the part of the attorney for the minor, the arrogance of CPS and the JD Court, the minor failed every placement and was carelessly placed back in her old neighborhood. The woman with whom she was placed wanted custody as a way to seek revenge on her neighbor. Thus the minor was placed in volatile, dangerous situation with no supervision and was seen selling drugs to other minors./p pThe taxpayers’ money that has been wasted on this case and many, many others due to the planned negligence of CPS and JD Court and the lack of bACCOUNTABILITY/b is immense.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongMarie's* Story/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby PNN/p pThe darkness was closing in; the night had settled, and we werebr / safe in our car, it was home for us. Like always, it was just me and mybr / daughter. I helped her get comfortable, I nestled her into the fewbr / blankets that we had. It was still summertime, so the cold weather hadn'tbr / descended on us yet, but nights in Marin can always be a little chilly,br / especially without the comforts of four solid walls around you. We werebr / doing just fine though, in our little hatchback, probably a lot better thanbr / most families on the streets. At least we were together, my daughter andbr / I; at least we had that much stability./p pIn the land of exorbitant rents and senseless evictions by greedybr / landlords, I thought I was getting by in the best way that I could. Sobr / many other people, with or without children, were getting pushed out ofbr / their homes and out of the community only because they were poor, becausebr / they couldn't keep up with the ever- rising cost of living. Not everyonebr / is a dotcommer around here, but soon they will be, now that all of thebr / money being made by those huge corporations is driving up rent and drivingbr / out the little people. It is money that is never seen by anyone outside ofbr / those big businesses, money that never makes it down to street level, andbr / the more expensive everything in this area becomes, the more people findbr / themselves on the streets because there is simply no where else to go.br / Before long, there won't be any such thing as diversity in this area,br / because every neighborhood will be filled with the rich upper-class./p pWell, I might not have the resume to get some high- paying job, butbr / that doesn't make me a bad parent. I provided for my daughter, but somehowbr / being poor made me a criminal, too, in the eyes of C.P.S. One day we werebr / just getting by, making the best of a hard situation, and the next thing Ibr / knew, we were forced out of our car, I was thrown in jail and my daughterbr / was taken from me, to where, I still don't know. As far as the court wasbr / concerned, I was probably better off in a cell as long as I wasn't livingbr / in my car anymore. But suddenly, it wasn't shelter or stability that I wasbr / missing, it was my child, and that left me with a feeling far worse thanbr / homelessness ever did./p pSince when is it against the law to be without money or a home? Ifbr / that is really the case, then our jails should be overflowing by now.br / Instead of criminalizing poverty, our government officials should be aidingbr / families in need to find the resources that are available to assist them,br / or creating more resources if necessary. Instead they waste money onbr / court cases against people like me who really just need some help./p pSo now, all that is left is for me to go to court, to stand up inbr / front of a judge who doesn't know me and a prosecutor who wants to convictbr / me, and try to prove that I can still be a good mother to my child. If Ibr / am lucky they will return my daughter to me and give us the assistance thatbr / we need to survive in an area that can be hostile for low- income families.br / But even if they do, it won't erase the experience of being separated frombr / her. Nothing can do that, not even the biggest house in the neighborhoodbr / and all of the money in the world./p p*iNames changed to protect identity/i/p pb***CourtWatch Response***/b/p pThe process through which POOR Magazine Media Studies staff andbr / welfare-to-work students helped Marie, mother of a three-year-old child, asbr / part of a CourtWatch project, started when Dee found a two-inch articlebr / about her hidden inside the San Francisco Examiner. She showed it to Tinybr / because she found it noteworthy, especially because of the way that Mariebr / was instantly labeled as not only homeless, but also mentally ill.br / According to the article, Marie had been jailed for trying to take herbr / child back from C.P.S. Dee felt the need to assist her due to the commentsbr / made in the article, which put up all kinds of red flags in terms of thebr / labeling used by C.P.S. as a means of denying a parent custody of theirbr / children./p pAttempts to find Marie, including calling C.P.S., the court, andbr / the jail, all proved difficult and fruitless. Finally the POOR staff foundbr / Marie's attorney. We contacted him and also sent a letter to Marie throughbr / his office. After finding out from the criminal court when Marie wasbr / scheduled to appear, the staff attended her court date. Our reporters werebr / also able to interview her attorney and probation officer, and consequentlybr / reviewed and wrote up their impressions of everyone involved in Marie'sbr / case, including the judge and Marie herself. Although Marie was supposedlybr / restricted from having visitors at the jail, Dee and Tiny were allowed inbr / to see her. It was obvious that Marie needed a lot of help./p pPOOR Magazine contacted Marie's attorney one more time to offer ourbr / help advocating for her, although it was clear that she needed assistancebr / beyond the staff's capabilities. Since he could not release any morebr / information, like the court reports, to us, POOR was even more limited inbr / what we could offer to do for Marie. The solution was to send her, throughbr / her attorney, a list we compiled of various resources available to her inbr / the area in which she was staying, including services for homeless familiesbr / and the mentally ill, shelters and transitional housing, food vouchers andbr / meals, and employment and childcare services./p pIf we receive any updates about this case or others like it, youbr / will find them included in future CourtWatch columns./p p /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p