I just learned on the 1st of this month that I have to move out of my apartment by next Wednesday. I hate moving. What I hate more is that I am allowed my kitty cat named, "Spot" cannot come with me.
Please help me find a good home for Spotty. Spotty has been primarily an indoor cat for the last 5 1/2 years that she has been with me. I am quite sure she would adjust well in any probably enjoy playing in the outdoors. She likes to sit on the porch in the sun and take in the fresh air.
She is almost 6 years old, spayed, and really needs a good home where she can play and have fun!
She is very active, but also very affectionate. She had all her shots but may need a booster sometime soon, but she has no pet insurance :-( Spotty is a very kool kat. She is also very pc... neither black nor white, she is simply Spot.
When you are working too long or too late, she will let you know you need a break by curling up on the power cord right next to your pc. She loves chasing mice when she really wants attention or wants to play.
Please help me find a good home for Spotty. She deserves at least that much, and I simply do not have what she needs.
Please Save Spotty! Spotty saved me.
Original Post: April 11 2009WE SAVED SPOTTY!
Thank you @almostvisible @donnette @JayLink_ @ykv @owl311 @paulbritphoto @jenciTN
This is only part of the story... But definitely NOT all of it.
My computer, meds, printer, transcripts, and even my diplomas & Social Security card were left in puddles in the pouring rain.
FROM LANDLORD PLAYING DUMB:
You were there Tuesday?
I understand that you cannot move your items today from the building but that you can over the weekend. I will make sure that the building is unlocked tomorrow and Sunday.
ELYSSA BEING A SMART ASS: ,
John:
Please note that the photos are time and geostamped, so you may wish to reconsider the possibility that I tend to tell the truth, especially when my personal safety is at risk. Keep in mind, I have no history of violent, criminal, or psychotic behavior. . Can you say that if the other three tenants?
You might consider running a background check the next time you allow an unsuspecting person to rent a room in a house that clearly requires more than just a $250,000 grant.
I believe in full disclosure. It may not hurt you to let the next person know exactly what they can expect.
This is not what anyone interested in transitioning homeless would or should or could do to a person picking up the pieces that have been ripped, torn, flooded, from my life since I first agreed to give testimony regarding shots fired in a MDHA and federally funded property in March of 2009.
Maybe that NIMBY crowd has the right idea. If only I could make back over to their side of the tracks. More later. On that you can rely...
THIS IS WHY I HAVE NO "STUFF" no bed, no kitchen ware, no respect. all of my clothing is needs to be washed because it is moldy, I'm out of quarters. this is not how a responsible, federally funded program operates. I read the HUD agreement.
Who is looking out for people in these situations. Yes, I hear the crazy jokes, shit-- I make the crazy jokes.
None of this is not funny. I may be crazy, but wouldn't you be a little unsettled that nobody, and I mean NOBODY cares enough about me or any human being to lift a finger to help.
So here are the pics... how would you feel if you found all your belongings locked up in a flooded dog cage before you had a chance to get a truck or find a "friend' to help you move into a place of your own?
I am happy to report that I am no longer tweeting from my TwackBerry (in part because it is broken) and that Spotty and I are now in our very own apartment!
I am to thrilled to have a place to plant butt on the floor (no bed yet) but to watch Spotty curled up next me in the morning, purring as if nothing ever happened, I hardly notice how hard the floor is beneath the single top sheet that I have been sleeping on.
This brings me incredible relief. I thought she was broken. I thought she would be scarred for life. But Spotty has adapted better than expected. She is miraculously calm and almost unaware of how close we were to being.... how close she was to not being saved at all. Sadly no one came forward to Please Dave Spotty. I must find a place to balance my anger and disgust for all who poked fun at my campaign to save Spotty. http://darknightdurant.blogspot.com/2009/04/please-save-spotty.html
To be perfectly honest, I had given up hope that I this moment would come. The simple joy in having a place to call home. So yes, I can breathe. I can love. I can express joy. And relief, and should feel some sense of “pride” that it was me who did it. Against all odds, and should feel empowered that despite the barrage of the added stress fixing errors that I did not make; ultimately I was the one who has to find some oasis in this complete and total government fuckuppery. Complicated further by unforeseen, unforgiving, complications from my past, I did what I needed to do to set myself free. Did it work? Yes and no. Do I feel free? Yes and no. Do I feel a sense of pride and dignity? Yes and no. Will I ever feel safe and truly at home? Probably not. http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2009/07/greatest-gift-greatest-grtief.html
But I will pretend for now that none of this matters. I will pretend the fraud and abuse is gone for the time being, so I can try to make it through the hour with a sense of ownership, self-efficacy and hope that for one day, my life is not interrupted by uninvited guests or complications so I can take a few hours to feel some relief as together we move towards a sense of stability.... http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2009/08/identity-theft-its-personal.html
Unfortunately, I can still feel the wolves circling outside the door. As I try to lift myself up from the darkest depths of despair, I am racing against the clock to collect pieces of myself lost along the way. Of critical importance is recovering all the documents that will allow me to stay here-- as I am under review for social security, DHS, social services, and of course, the MDHA (Metro Development Housing Agency) for Section 8. This requires proof of income, identity, and countless other forms and documentation that are difficult to keep track of when you don't have an address or a place to keep them safe in an unsafe environment. http://darknightdurant.blogspot.com/2009/07/housing-crisis-in-nashville-tennessee.html
A few days ago, I found out that all of my belongings had been were placed into garbage bags, and thrown into the very same flooded garage outside the house I had rented from a CMHA (Community Mental Health Agency) that was funded, in part by SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) HUD (Housing and Urban Development) and special funds under the Recovery Act of 2009. I used to work as for SAMSHA, and I know enough about the law to realize that the lack of supervision and intervention at the house I rented is not only against the rules, but should be considered a crime against humanity. http://article.wn.com/view/2009/09/10/Centerstone_receives_grant_from_city_to_assist_homeless/
The "landlord" did nothing to prevent or intervene and actually encouraged such behavior as he knew it would force me out of the house that was clearly a threat to my safety and well being. The three women who should be jailed for the countless times they complicated the situation by locking me out, unplugging my phone, disconnecting my computer cables, and destroying my property "just for fun." http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2009/08/today-again.html
What he did take issue with was the very fact that I was writing about my circumstances, especially the more disturbing times when I was when I watched the other residents become violent, and dangerous towards each other, and in time towards me. One nearly assaulted with me with waffle iron; One locked during a tornado warning, and one was simply too intoxicated to make a telephone call when five shots were fired down the street. To prevent from calling mobile crisis to intervene, me personal telephone was disconnected, the electric cables and power cords were unplugged and ultimately broken, and when I needed to call 911 even the house phone had disconnected by the woman who claims ownership by proxy of the entire household. Yeah, I’m the problem.
To add insult to injury, the day after my belongings were moved into the flooded garage, I learned that the agency received a grant to help transition the homeless. I'm not quite sure what to do... but I think there needs to be a stop gap measure somewhere, and if that makes me a "rat" so be it, but no one, and I mean NO ONE should ever be subjected to the things I witnessed over the last six months while I paid rent, yet lost everything as I was locked outside by the residents, while disposed of my food, kept from my medicine and destroyed property by repeatedly moving into areas of the property that were known to have flooding. The originals are destroyed; the ink from the notarized copies bleeds into the paper and can no longer feed through the scanner without getting caught in the feed. http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2009/08/metro-govt-fuckuppery.html
I hope to pick the remaining items sometime son, and can only hope that I have what I need to move forward, and find the piece of myself that used to care enough to volunteer at the family shelter; go one more round in the fight for social justice; explain the need for equitable funding and share facts and research with those who need it… I encourage others to support social welfare programs to empower youth and the disenfranchised... I encourage others because I’m not sure I have what it takes any more. Not the skills, the passion. The drive. http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-poverty-crime.html
Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. I guess the bottom line is that maybe I can't.
Perhaps the significant loss was the faith I had in human decency and kindness. I also lost considerable respect for nearly every person I know as they watched from a far (or a near) and failed to do anything to "stop the madness" I must confront the fact that so many things got lost in the 6 months it took to get here.
There were so many along the way that provided golden opportunities for someone to step up and be a hero. Not for the publicity or to grand stand, simply to be a hero to one woman who was caught in the vortex in a vicious downward spiral: homeless, helpless, hopeless.
So many faces, most of them of them strangers, would pass me by not knowing g of my story, my fear, or my sadness and isolation. They would chat me up at the park, the library, some place I could use Wi Fi for free, and I would feel almost human for a few hours. http://darknightdurant.blogspot.com/2009/07/writing-through-dark.html
Several hours later, I would find myself sitting in the parking lot hours after losing, tweeting my ass off in the pouring rain with nowhere to run to and no place to hide. Only then could you see the broken dreams of a woman marginalized into the shell of a person I had become. Broken. Completely broken.
Having worked for a private foster care agency (profit-driven) company contracted by the Department of Children's Services through the State of Tennessee, I would like to share what I've learned through my experience working with older adolescents reaching the age of majority-18-who are being released from state custody with the Department of Children's Services.
One child, now twenty, is pregnant and moves from place to place every few days or so (photos attached). When I first got her case, 5 years or so ago, she had concrete goals, dreams and aspirations. She had hope. She wanted to go to college. Now, today, she is homeless, pregnant, and has been without services since the day (and I do mean day!) she turned 18. (Pictures of her currrent "home" are posted next to this article.)
On her 18th birthday, Ms. DB was dropped off at a Food Lion parking lot in Gallatin, TN without any money, clothing, food, healthcare, benefits, e.g., food stamps, transportation and no where to go. She was on her own with a 10th grade education and no GED.
Cody G is a young man who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 19, shortly after leaving custody. He was denied TennCare 4 times before I made the decision to get involved at any cost. Like all of my other former DCS clients (at least those who have contacted me over the years) CG is also chronically homeless, unemployable, and has only a 10th grade education, epilepsy, and a mental illness. He TennCare is ending 3/31/2008-not quite enough time to plan and execute the brain surgery he needs to help him live a relatively normal life...
I'm still involved, but tomorrow I will turn his case file over to two new case managers and hope that they can keep up the pace. I have to let go. I can't pay my internet bill!
I hope and pray that all of the hard work I have put into his case: applying for benefits, social security, Medicaid, Food Stamps, even a library card and a voter registration card (which are a dime a dozen in this town; Nashville, TN; these days) so that he can get the brain surgery and medical treatment he needs and deserves does not get lost when I go back to work next week. I have assured him that I will not abandon him like everyone else in the past-besides, I hold his history-his memory-his voter registration, TennCare and Social Security cards[1].
These children and young adults (DB, CG, CW, and CB) and a few other exceptional children left an imprint on my heart long after I left my position with the Department of Children's Services...
After leaving the private (contract) agency I was working for, it took a very long time for me to decide whether I should continue in the field of social services for children. You see, I was under the impression that foster care was about children. Wrong.
Unfortunately, I came to realize that it was more about money than children. Private agencies pay barely there, barely trained "people" upwards of $40-60/day per child tax-free. One foster parent I worked with kept ten children in a four-bedroom home in Madison. She also kept chains on the refrigerator door so the children wouldn't eat too much food. Another family had multiple complaints of sexual assault filed against them, but those complaints were mysteriously absent from my case file when I left the agency. As was my actual signature on my case reports-they didn't even try to color between the lines when falsified my records with white out. Who can be that lazy? Who can be that reckless? Who can be that person?
I was deeply saddened by this realization because I was unsure what to do with the information I had acquired throughout the years. However, at this point in my life, I do feel that I have some ethical obligation to either speak out or take action to work towards resolving the systemic problems in the privatized foster care environment.
I came to the realization that I may be able to use my own voice to speak for the children who have been repeatedly silenced by our society: our schools, our courts, our social service system, and the adults they relied upon to have their most basic needs met.
DB and CG speak openly with me about anything and everything. It took them a while, but after working with them so closely for seven years (I do not get paid or reimursed for any off the services, or expenses when trying to get thmem the help they need) Their willingness to meet with people and discuss their experience while in the custody of the children's services was a n opportunity to change the system.
Focx News knew within minutes of several of these situations. The reporter told me he didn't have tome t bothered. Well Fuck you too, Sky. You wouldn't know a decent story when it was in front of your face.
However, if you believe (like I do) that sharing these stories (albeit anecdotal) may ultimately lead to profound changes and reform within the foster care system, then I am quite certain my former clients would be more than willing to speak with anyone who has the capacity to make things better for their natural and foster siblings still in the system, I do not see a problem so long as we can create a space where they can speak freely without fear of repercussions.
DB is not alone in her experience, and for whatever reason, these children seem to feel comfortable sharing their stories with me. They know the ttruth about me that I never revealed until recently....that I too was one of the lost.
There is another young man, Cody G, who is an incredibly gifted writer that deserves to be heard and recognized. Much like DB, he has experienced a great deal of difficulty finding stable living arrangements once discharged from DCS custody. Because he was constantly in motion, moving from place to place to place-- I agreed to hold onto his personal journals documenting his experience in DCS.
His voice deserves to be heard along with a chorus of others! Some of these children develop such fascinating ways to cope with the pain, the isolation and the abandonment issues they grow up with, and I try to do the best I can to steer them in the right direction.
Talent such as Cody's and perseverance like DB's should be revered, celebrated, respected, and validated-- not thrown away or ignored..
Foster care is mess. What happens next is a complete and utter tragedy. I hope you are deeply disturbed by the contents of this letter-if so-my job is done for the day!
Let your voice be heard-- contact your representatives, the press!
Shout it from the rooftops if you need to: I did.
This despicable state of affairs and this not so well hidden secret about privatized foster care in the state of Tennessee must come to an end!
Think I'll settle down and show this world what I'm worth
And this is how DB lives: Pregnant at age 20:
The bathtub.
No door.
No curtain.
The sink.
The mold.
The baby...
[1] I must give kudos to Judge Dan Eisenstein from the Mental Health Court of Davidson County who has paved the way to make getting CG Transitional Services as he ventures out into the world alone-if only I could get reimbursed for my time! Judge Eisenstein is untraditional, compassionate, and by far the most client-centered Judge I have ever had the honor of working with, no matter how briefly. Judge Eisenstein is paving the road for CG to have a chance-a chance at a future-a chance at a life-- a real one-free from Grand Mal seizures, self-injury, hypomania, rapid cycling, and suicidal ideations.
I also would like to express my gratitude to The Tennessee Justice Center, Tony Garr of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, Lane Simpson, and Dave Aguzzi with the Department of Children's Services who are helping CG get transitional living services so he can get the care and treatment he did not receive while in custody. Kim Crane (from the Vanderbilt Center for Child & Family Policy Center) has also been instrumental in serving as a liaison with Transitional Youth Programs and helped me get connected to the right people and programs efficiently and effectively. Thanks to you all!.
Start here. See if you can follow. I am now homeless, because the crazy roommate locked me out and MDHA fucked up big time.
After reporting a shooting and working WITH the cops to help curb the violence and drug activity in my community, they discovered that the maintenance man was a house arrest due to a drug conviction. The same maintenance man who had a key to my apt and would frequently enter without prior notification and on multiple occasions when I was not at home.
After calling the non-emergency police hot line 32 times to report excessive traffic and drug activity in my building without response, the next call I made was to 911 to report gun fire in the apartment directly downstairs. I'm a New Yorker. My dad was a fed. I Lived through 9/11. I worked as a crisis intervention specialist under contract for Level II and Level III adolescents in state custody (Tennessee Dept of Children's Services)
I am no stranger to violence.
Notified the other day by DHS that I have no tenncare 8/14/09 but state records have me enrolled as active. SSA says I don't, now DHS says I don't but they won't take an appeal because the state says I do! WTF???
Then, they cut my food stamps off because the homeless do not have to pay rent or utilities.
MDHA still hasn't recerted, but they continued to pay rent 4 months after I moved out and sent the renewal papers to my old apt because they were unaware that I was evicted and sued for $4.50.
Fair housing keeps asking for proof that I made due diligent effort, so tied me with bullshit looking for any and every excuse to blame it on me.
Couldn't find a new apt because it shows up as an eviction. There's more, and everything is documented.
Oh yeah, my TennCare was terminated on 8/14/2009. I never an RFI (Request for Information) or reason for this redetermination. No one calls me back,
I just learned on the 1st of this month that I have to move out of my apartment by next Wednesday. I hate moving. What I hate more is that I am allowed my kitty cat named, "Spot" cannot come with me.
Please help me find a good home for Spotty. Spotty has been primarily an indoor cat for the last 5 1/2 years that she has been with me. I am quite sure she would adjust well in any probably enjoy playing in the outdoors. She likes to sit on the porch in the sun and take in the fresh air.
She is almost 6 years old, spayed, and really needs a good home where she can play and have fun!
She is very active, but also very affectionate. She had all her shots but may need a booster sometime soon, but she has no pet insurance :-( Spotty is a very kool kat. She is also very pc... neither black nor white, she is simply Spot.
When you are working too long or too late, she will let you know you need a break by curling up on the power cord right next to your pc. She loves chasing mice when she really wants attention or wants to play.
Please help me find a good home for Spotty. She deserves at least that much, and I simply do not have what she needs.
Please Save Spotty! Spotty saved me.
POSTED: APRIL 11, 2009
GOOD NEWS: WE SAVED SPOTTY!
Charity Tuesday June 8, 2010
Thank you @almostvisible @donnette @JayLink_ @ykv @owl311PLEASE FOLLOW @petsofhomeless
