DCentric

Flickr: lucianvenutian

This haunting piece by Carl Foster– who runs Ward 1′s Little Blue House, which works with vulnerable families to achieve stability and self-sufficiency– was published in the “All Opinions are Local” section of the Sunday Post:

Recently, one of my kids came to the LBH instead of going to school, saying that his mother told him she didn’t want him anymore and that he should get out. He is only 10 years old. The argument apparently stemmed from a seemingly innocuous question:

“Can I have clean clothes to wear to school?”

“Get out. I don’t want you.”

Now that’s reportable.

I’ve been concerned about this family for some time. Other moms had told me this mother was beaten up by drug dealers. I had no firsthand knowledge of this, so I could not report it to protective services. I witnessed this mom handing a wad of cash to some guy while her kids were asking us for food. There is a blanket hanging just inside the front door of her home that prevents anyone from seeing what’s inside. Suspicious but not reportable.

Foster does report it, and while a social worker gets involved, he doesn’t go to the child’s home (despite calling LBH for that address!)– nor does he communicate effectively with a vulnerable kid OR come prepared with an interpreter to help understand the child’s Mother. Worse than all that…

In the end, the investigator told us he thought everything was just fine with this family. I asked him four times if he planned to visit the home. Each time he said, “It’s part of our investigation,” but I noticed he never said yes. I am confident he did not go. Why do I think this? The next day the boy was waiting when our staff arrived at the LBH at 9 a.m. He was wearing shorts on a very cold morning. I asked if the investigator came to his house; he said no. He had walked to the LBH in the cold even though he knew we were planning to pick him up. He was upset, but this time he volunteered no information about what happened at home.

A ten-year old. In shorts. Waiting outside in the bitter, December cold. A vulnerable child in a precarious situation, turning to the only shelter he knows…because everything is “just fine with his family”, of course.