NEW YORK, May 18, 2009
Safe Families For Children In Need
CBS Reports: Group Is Making A Difference By Taking In Children While Their Parents Get Back On Their Feet
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Play CBS Video Video Parents Seek Help With Kids The recession has left many American families in crisis. Katie Couric reports on Safe Families, an alternative to foster care for parents who have become temporarily overwhelmed by hard times.
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Lawrie, 10, and Isabel, 5 lived on the streets of Chicago after their parents - a college professor and an accountant - lost their jobs and their home and struggled with health problems. They were taken in by volunteer foster parents through the Safe Families For Children Program. (CBS)
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E-MAIL US Recession's Impact On Kids Know any children -- perhaps even your own -- suffering from the effects of the economic downturn? Let us know, and we might tell their story as part of the special CBS News initiative, "Children of the Recession."
If someone asked you how the recession has affected you, you'd probably have an answer or two. Perhaps you or someone you know has lost a job, or your 401(k) has taken a hit.
But what about your children? When CBS News asked parents about that, more than one out of three told us the recession had affected their children's lives in some way. Sixty percent said they've had to tell their kids there's no money for something they're used to getting.
For some children, the impact goes far deeper, and may be to them what the Great Depression was to an earlier generation, reports CBS News anchor Katie Couric.
These are the young voices of the recession.
"We didn't have anywhere to live. And we wouldn't take a shower or anything like that," said Lawrie, 10. "We would just be wandering around."
Lawrie, and her 5-year-old sister, Isabel, spent nearly four months living on the streets of Chicago, riding on trains after their parents - a college professor and an accountant - lost their jobs and their home and struggled with health problems.
"This is when we - mom, Isabel and I - were sitting in the metro Union Station," Lawrie says, showing a picture she drew. "And then a policewoman came by and saw Isabel's swollen feet, that were covered with spots and bleeding, which she got from walking around too much. And her shoes were too tight."
With parents no longer able to take care of them, they could have wound up in the child welfare system. But in Chicago and seven other cities, there's another safety net, an alternative to foster care, for some. It's called Safe Families, a network of volunteers who will take in children from overwhelmed parents, temporarily - anywhere from a few days to more than a year.
"There's a whole group of families that if you help them before things get really bad, you can really make a difference in their life," said Dr. David Anderson, who came up with the idea five years ago. Anderson says Safe Families for Children has helped more than a 1,000 children in Chicago during that time.
"A couple of moms said, 'You know, can you just take 'em from me, until I can get back on my feet?'" Anderson recalled.
In the last year, requests have doubled. Nine months ago, Cassie and Toby Eng opened their home to Lawrie and Isabel.
"You get attached so fast, and you want the best for them. At the same time, you hope and pray that their original family can be reconciled or that their original family can come back together," Cassie Eng said.
Some child advocates criticize the program and say more should be done to keep families intact.
But Shanell Bryant believed it was the best option.
"That's the one thing I strive to be - is a good mom," she said, wiping away tears.
Bryant, 28, was about to put 5-year-old Jessica and 2-year-old Ethan up for adoption after she was diagnosed with cancer, lost her job and then her apartment.
"I felt as though I didn't even deserve to live, because I was unable to take care of my kids," she said.
That's when she was referred to the Safe Families program. But the thought of giving up her children was agonizing.
"I cried all last night, honestly I did," Bryant said.
CBS News was there when her children were welcomed into the Applegate home.
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Safe Families mother
"Everybody says, 'This is so good of you to do,' and in a way, I feel selfish because I get so much more out of it," said Safe Families mother Sheila Applegate.
Everybody says, 'This is so good of you to do,' and in a way, I feel selfish because I get so much more out of it.
Sheila ApplegateSafe Families mother
The families of children Trevan, Malik, and Hector all made that same difficult choice.
"All of a sudden my mom was crying. And she said that she had found a family for me," Trevan said. "It was really hard trying to say goodbye to my mom."
It is a little bit confusing to live with a new family and not with their own moms, the children said, but they understand it can be for the best.
"I do. Because they help me out a lot. And it's helping my mom too. It's not just helping me, it's helping her too," Malik said.
Volunteer families stepping in during tough times is reminiscent of the Great Depression, when parents in dire straits sent their children to live with relatives or other people in the community. Charlene Davis was four years old when she became one of those "economic" orphans.
"It's a wonderful thing to have somebody who takes you into their home, hug you, tell them that they love you," she said.
The Applegates did that for Jessica and Ethan, leaving their mom free to look for work And Safe Families helped with her job search as well. After two weeks - success.
"I got the job. I got the job!" Bryant said. "So that's a good thing."
It's a part-time job counseling women at a shelter. But it's enough work to enable her to get her kids back.
"They saved my life," Bryant said. "They were angels sent to me out of nowhere."
Find Out More
Organizations where you can offer help if you're able, or receive help if you need it:
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More From Children of Recession
Add a Comment See all 58 Comments
- why the rich people (bill gates the walton family and some others )dont donate part of their fortune
why they need that much money?
why the goberment bail out the c.e.o.'s? - Reply to this comment
- This is the true Christian spirit at work.
Posted by debinok1
Exactly. Excluding people who don't "share" the faith and punishing poor children in the bargain.
It's what Christ would do. - Reply to this comment
- I hope this makes all the ultra-wealthy feel REALLY proud of themselves. If they had givin every American adult 21-plus a check for $100,000.00 INSTEAD OF "BAILING OUT" CORPORATE CEO'S" - this problem MIGHT NOT exist!
---------------- posted by demongirl60
Most of these folks could be bailed out by as little as $10,000, or better yet, trade school, college, career guidance, or mortgage payments so they could keep a roof over their kid's head. I agree 100% that this problem was caused by corporate greed.
ALL OF YOU GREEDY SONS OF *B*I*T*C*H*E*S* SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES. KIDS ARE GOING HUNGRY BECAUSE OF YOUR GREED. Redemption is simple - TAKE ALL OF THAT BAILOUT MONEY AND START FEEDING HUNGRY KIDS NOW. - Reply to this comment
- Mrs. Trepidatious just wrote: "Well if these women werent so selfish and had husbands they wouldnt be in this situation would they?" End of quote
Yes, she actually wrote it. Yes someone actually posted such bright post on this blog. I rest my case with the feeling that there is a very little hope for this country.
I - Reply to this comment
- Well if these women werent so selfish and had husbands they wouldnt be in this situation would they?
- Reply to this comment
- During the second World war Jewish family were separating from their children for the sake of children survival. The Nazis were set to kill them all. And now in the richest and, so far, peaceful country the best solution to the economic crises it to give up your children to charitable Christians for the sake of survival. Millions of homes taken by banks stay empty. Parents cannot buy children shoes, there are sleeping in subways. Instead of buying shoes and providing decent shelter for families with children "Good people" solve the state problem and offer their solution, they take children to their Christians homes. What country is that? What country allows that to happen? Charity starts with courage of thoughts. Courage of social changes. But as long as this is acceptable and cherished solutions, any real change in hearts and minds is impossible.
- Reply to this comment
- yes, that is third world.
people on the blogs fight the - as they see it - rising power of government.
but a country with no or failing social systems, is exactly the definition for third worldstatus. 19. century.
you have the obscene rich and their houses behind guarded fences and then you have little children walking the streets because their parents lost job and with that too often the home.
and that is exactly the definition of third world.
and above all that there are the bigots who fight big government. the american society is deeply sick and selfrighteous..
I am glad I am living in what you will call socialist europe. we have problems here as well but I don´t know what is worse. The situation out of the article or your bigotic good doers, full of bible verses.
a lot of you think america is an ethical example for the world and if the whole world would be like america, everything would be fine. that only shows that you are at least partly blind.
trickling down has made the few filthy rich and the many so poor.
nothing to be proud about.
third world in many, too many aspects. - Reply to this comment
- I hope this makes all the ultra-wealthy feel REALLY proud of themselves. If they had givin every American adult 21-plus a check for $100,000.00 INSTEAD OF "BAILING OUT" CORPORATE CEO'S" - this problem MIGHT NOT exist!
- Reply to this comment
- .............SNIP.........And those of you who have decided that this is a sad hyprocritical program that is scarring children, try living on the streets and going hungry. Try living in a dirty rat infested hotel room on skid row like I did as a kid. Try having holes in your shoes, and nothing to eat. Try that.
So unless you have a better idea I suggest you sit down and be quiet.
Posted by marlaluvstyler at 9:24 PM : May 18, 2009
This is an excellent post. It is well worth reading the entire post, but I only clipped the very end. Go re-read it in its entirety.
Thank you, marlaluvstyler, for writing. More people need to understand what you have been through so that others do not have to go through it. May you be blessed in your endeavors to make life better for others. - Reply to this comment
- To all you people calling this wrong, let me tell you something. I was a foster child growing up. I lived in foster homes and gorups homes sponsored by the state. I was in an awful group home with a lady running it who was clearly racist (dressed up a mentally disabled girl as Aunt Jemima and made her dance around while everyone laughed). That was truly a horrible experience that I have never ever forgotten and I am now 36 years old. And I hated it when some of those people working in that group home would ask me why I didn't want to go back to my mother. They sounded sappy and holier-than-though just like many of you. Even in that horrible place I told them no repeatedly, because my mother was an alocholic who beat the crap out of me. I had no one else. So please get over this romantic idea that all families should be kept together. Sometimes they really shouldn't.
And sometimes, people are too broke to take care of their children, or they are too overwhelmed, or they have an abusive spouse, or they can't feed them, or they are too sick. Sometimes it is best to let the children go to someone who can take care of them better. I luckily did find a family who took me in and helped me.
This is an excellent idea, because it isn't fostercare. The people who take these children are commited to giving them back to their parents once they get on their feet. In the state that I live in, if your child ends up in foster care because you can't take care of them (which they will eventually if it becomes apparent that you have no place to live and no way to take care of them), if you still can't take care of them after a year, they start the process of taking your child away permentley and legally and putting them up for adoption. Case closed, end of story, you lose.
So you people who are calling this cruelty and hypocrisy, you obviosuly have NO CLUE! I wholly support this program and I plan to contact them and see what I can do to help. Some of you would rather see these liitle children live in poverty and go hungry in order to keep a family living together than ease a parents burden and give a child a safe place to live while their parents get it together. Obviously you have never been in a situation such as this. I have and I can tell you right now that this is a wonderful program.
And those of you who have decided that this is a sad hyprocritical program that is scarring children, try living on the streets and going hungry. Try living in a dirty rat infested hotel room on skid row like I did as a kid. Try having holes in your shoes, and nothing to eat. Try that.
So unless you have a better idea I suggest you sit down and be quiet. - Reply to this comment
- Children in need?
Repunli'con'S only know sperm loads in need.
ONCE THERE IS A BIRTH, THEY DO NOT BELIEVE
ANY HUMANS ARE INVOLVED - Reply to this comment
- I'll never buy a Dell laptop again though. I called their call center, it's in India. When I requested someone in the US, they tried to sell me a $200.00 package to be a member of the"Dell American Team". I slammed the phone down.
Posted by gravyboat45 at 7:47 PM
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That's why I got rid of AT&T. Talking to an operator all the way in India smacked completely of being impersonal and uncaring about the American client. As far as I am concerned all such companies can pack it up and move to India and continue with only Indian clients.
Posted by vielmann
I agree. You know the scene in Transformers, when the military unit is trying to call the Pentagon, and this snotty Indian guy is pickin his nose, trying to sell this special forces guy crap? That scene pizzes me off, because I'm sure THAT'S the same guy who works for DELL. lmao - Reply to this comment
- One more thing to add. I don't believe there is a country in Europe where this sort of "charity" wouldn't cause terrible outcry! I think only in America this things can happen and be talked about as good thing. When we are so confused and mixed up that instead of making a family whole we gave children to the Christian parents and causing bigger invisible scars in children. Unfortunately I have lived in this country long enough not to be surprised that so many of you commenting on this pages accept this victorian era "solutions" as good deeds. But it is wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Posted by krymarh
This is the enviroment you prefer? This wonderful European utopia where everyone would be up in arms? This is where you would see your child go, rather than a family who would care for him, until you could again? You really are scary.
Today, orphanages are still places for these children ? but they have little hope for normal futures. Some orphans in Eastern Europe, like those in regions of Ukraine, have severe physical and mental disabilities that result from their parents? exposure to fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 (visit Ukraine Orphans to help). Others are children born with fetal alcohol syndrome into a system that is insufficiently equipped to care for them. Still others are abandoned by parents who have AIDS. Children who are without disabilities can often be scarred emotionally by their time in Eastern European orphanages: infants may not be properly socialized, care may not be shown by staff, or orphans may not get the attention necessary to help them grow into confident adults who can function successfully in society. - Reply to this comment
- Can we call it an American spirit? We're not all Christians, but, I believe we all want to help.
Posted by gravyboat45
Fine by me. The help is there, that is what is important. The more people willing to help each other the better off we all are.
Posted by debinok1
Exactly. - Reply to this comment
- I'll never buy a Dell laptop again though. I called their call center, it's in India. When I requested someone in the US, they tried to sell me a $200.00 package to be a member of the"Dell American Team". I slammed the phone down.
Posted by gravyboat45 at 7:47 PM
****************
That's why I got rid of AT&T. Talking to an operator all the way in India smacked completely of being impersonal and uncaring about the American client. As far as I am concerned all such companies can pack it up and move to India and continue with only Indian clients. - Reply to this comment
- One more thing to add. I don't believe there is a country in Europe where this sort of "charity" wouldn't cause terrible outcry! I think only in America this things can happen and be talked about as good thing. When we are so confused and mixed up that instead of making a family whole we gave children to the Christian parents and causing bigger invisible scars in children. Unfortunately I have lived in this country long enough not to be surprised that so many of you commenting on this pages accept this victorian era "solutions" as good deeds. But it is wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
- Reply to this comment
- Who are people in social services in those towns? Who are those " Charitable workers who don't care for children they take in if they doin't care for their parents. Shame
Posted by krymarh
They are giving families a chance to get on their feet without having to worry about whether or not their children have a warm meal or a safe place to sleep. Sometimes the best way to help someone is to ease their burden. That is what these people are doing. When the Depression hit many family members took in children while parents attempted to find work or housing. Sometimes if there was no family, the neighbors did the same. Would you really find it easier to teach your child to be homeless, than place him for just a little while where he was warm and safe and cared for, while you found your way back up? That you would put your child through that life just so you could feel better than thou is the scary part. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by krymarh at 8:41 PM
Thanks for an excellent post. I am disgusted by this article and disgusted that we are now at a Third World status. - Reply to this comment
- Nothing shook me as terribly as this program. It shows hypocrisy and cruelty in its worst. The children are placed with others worrying about parents, separated from them when they need each other support and then they are asked in front of those charitable christian caregivers if they are happy to be there and yes they answer yes. What else could you expect. The fact that this sort of creulty and hypocrisy is disguised and presented as charity is beyond me. Help the family, come everyday to the mother and a child and help. If you take children in, take their parents as well. What country is it, what kind of Dickens like environment we are creating and Kathy Couric presents it as goodness and so many here seem to agree. This is the most scary news I have seen in years. And I am scared already. My husband - the only one working in our house lost his job and I am afraid we will get homeless too and then I am thinking maybe at least I would teach my child with special needs how to survive the homelessness because there is nobody he could count on. The Christian families and program like that prove to me the country lost its soul under disguise of Christianity. I was scared and now I am teerrified. Who are we? Who is Cathy Couric? Who are people in social services in those towns? Who are those " Charitable workers who don't care for children they take in if they doin't care for their parents. Shame
- Reply to this comment
- Can we call it an American spirit? We're not all Christians, but, I believe we all want to help.
Posted by gravyboat45
Fine by me. The help is there, that is what is important. The more people willing to help each other the better off we all are. - Reply to this comment
