Our Most Best

This life thwat we share between just a few, with joy, love and turmoil our mind and hearts grew. Our lives long long long journey sometimes filled with great pain distracts from our future and drives us insane.We let go of our feelings  we try our most best, to love like no one else could love more than the rest. Now life's like the movies with stunts and all fake but we will pull it together a new life we'll make.

Death of the Nuclear Family

In these troubled times as in the past, with no where else to turn, Americans as well as everyone else in the world turn to family. Family, since we humans have been on the planet has been the nucleus of society. Father and mother sons and daughters binded together to weather tough times. World wars, depressions revolutions and turmoil all could not succeed in shattering the bonds of family. In this era it seems that there are forces at work bend upon the destruction of the nuclear family. Whether the goal is to spread confusion and panic or to wrest control of our lives from us, these forces have been very successful in their attempt. I once read an article which stated that a nefarious group of individuals whose goal is total world domination through the dissemination of misinformation, have formulated a plan to destroy family as we know it. This group whose lofty aim is centered around mass confusion and disorder. They control every facet of our lives by determining which books or articles we read for they determine who gets published. What shows we watch on television or see in the movies, because they determine which actors, writers, producers and directors will be successful. The music we listen to, for they carefully screen the artists and allow only those whose message is in line with there aim. Our leaders, for if any outspoken advocate for change emerges they are cut down before they can achieve global recognition. The foods we eat, the medicines we take, the technology we use, the list goes on and on. There are agencies, right here in the United States, which begun with the goal of helping families which were in trouble. Sometimes the bread winner of these families may have had difficulties coping with the day to day struggles of life. Alcohol, drugs and gambling has gone a long way in disrupting the day to day workings of many families. These agencies then stepped in to offer counseling or other services in an attempt to right that which was wrong. But there main goal was always unification of these troubled families. This seems to have changed. The social service agencies nowadays seem hellbent on tearing these families apart.Due to time constraints I am going to have to end this conversation at this point.Be sure to tune in at a later date when I will be able to elaborate on these points more fully.

Life before Life

Hello world. It's been more than a minute since I have contributed anything to these pages and yet here is where it all started. I have since moved on to other venues to express my various styles of expression, but as I said before here is where I started. In homage to these pages I wish to dedicate a poem I wrote long long ago. It is quite rough in its style and composition but I do think these pages would do it justice. It's always darkest before the dawn, yet I had life before I was born. No remembrances of  color my skin had worn, not knowing if I were king or pawn. The fainted sight of a swan in flight, a faint aroma of sweet honey suckle at night. A warm gentle breeze gently caressing my flesh, a smile do I wear? A sigh with long tears.  

Department of Children and what?

The ending to the title should say Families. Families with a capital F. Somehow this word or perhaps just its meaning seems to have escaped the mindset of the people employed there. I have written before of my own nightmarish involvement with DCF. On April 5, 2015 my only son will turn two years old. In the almost two long years I have been fighting frantically to have him returned to me, I have suffered more indignities than I ever have due to racism. Early on in the fight I contacted Congressman McGovern's office for assistance. That sterling champion of the people wasted no time in having a staff member contact me. This individual listened impassioned as I related my tale. You could almost see her shaking her head from side to side in disbelief through the phone. This wonderful lady informed me that Massachusetts State Senator Harriett Chandler's office oversaw some functions of the DCF entity and that I should contact her and the Senator, along with Congressman McGovern would see what could jointly be done. I was also informed that a representative from the Congressman's office would contact the local DCF office and instruct them to deal with me fairly. There is no doubt that this did indeed occur. Just two weeks prior to my contacting the Congressman, the DCF supervisor had informed me that they had suddenly decided to change the goal in regards to my son from reunification with his birth parents, to adoption by strangers. I guess in his small eyes they are not strangers. From the moment he wakes, till he lays his tiny head down to sleep at night these people are mommy and daddy. The strangers are those two barely familiar people he might see for one hour twice a month. Two hours a month for twenty four months. two twenty four hour days for two years of life. A few months ago I contacted Senator Chandler. Her office immediately put me in touch with the Ombudsman's Office of DCF. I never knew such a branch of DCF existed The director of this office called me directly. After some background information and a review of my file by him, he informed me that DCF should have never denied me custody of my son from the very beginning. This is coming from the head individual in charge of investigating consumer complaints against DCF. He assigned a liaison person to assist me in dealing with DCF and to bring my son home and reunite my family more quickly.  It has now been almost two months and I am still no closer to having my son. Today was a scheduled visit with my son. I prepared his bag, bought his snacks, said my prayers and set off to spend one of the two most wonderful hours of my month. As I am sitting there, palms wet with anticipation anxiously looking out the window for my little boy. The mean spirited supervisor comes over. She informs me that the person who usually sits in on my supervised visit with my son was out sick, so my visit had been cancelled. I looked at her in disbelief. DCF regularly sends two individuals to my home for their monthly home inspection. But one person calls in sick and there is no other staff to sit there for an hour with me and my son. Hell the supervisor could have done it. From the outset they have done whatever they could to distance me from my son and make his time with me as uncomfortable as possible. Department of Children and what I say? I have just completed a 15 page letter to the U.S Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division. If a U.S Congressman, a State Senator and a Director of the Ombudsman's office can see the error of DCFs ways maybe the good folks in Washington can too. I will keep you posted.    

Too late we already called

www.facebook.com/helping homiesAs I delve deeper and deeper into the swirling sewer  which is the Department of Children and families, I can feel the wind being sucked from my very lungs, as I try to maneuver through all the swirling refuse. But, I am not alone. Pity the other poor bastards. forced to toil under that ruthless overseer. That Plantation style hierarchy that exits there does not hesitate for a moment to  sell another poor slave down the river. As enlightened as we are as a society, how do we continue to ignore all those injustices we allow our own society to perpetuate. Much less, to perpetuate on ourselves. The laws as written, allows a semi- private semi-governmental agency free reign to decide the fate of millions upon millions of American children and families.Initially there was great need for such an agency. With there being no oversight over the health and welfare of millions upon millions of children  suffering under poverty, there  was rampant abuse and exploitation of  children. With limited phones, roads and resources poor children in this country were at the mercy of sickos  and lunatics. Fast forward to the modern era. In no way am I saying that we as a people have evolved to the level of enlightenment that we no longer need agencies like  our modern day  DCF. That being said, it is also true that we have not evolved to the level of enlightenment that allows us to police ourselves and our children with a cadre of caring, kind and uncompromising individuals, totally dedicated to the pursuit of what is best for our families and our children.  As long as money is the incentive, there will always be individuals who will exploit and manipulate the taking of and the placing of our children. Money will be passed and the criteria for taking and selling of our young is bent and twisted for the advantage of the greedy and the well heeled. Hard to fathom? How long would there be such a groundswell of individuals and organizations receiving these confiscated if the financial incentive to do so was removed. I'm sure there are thousands of people who truly love there charges and would not even consider giving back a beloved family member if they were forced to totally foot the entire bill of having and raising  these placed children. On the other hand there are an equal amount of recipients who would drop their charges off at the nearest fire station or hospital if the financial incentive were eliminated. How many times does a friend of a friend who knows somebody who knows somebody who works for the Agency, who can put in a good word or special order for the child of their dreams. Ever since the explosion of children having children, Agency workers and people like them have had a  rich crop of prospective babies for sale. It seems that even in cases where there is borderline concern about a child's or families well being, the Agency swoops in and confiscates somebodies kid. To the dismay of frightened and confused parents and the sometimes detriment of a small child. Many of these children become permanently scarred. Was I abandoned? why didn't mommy and daddy love me? was this my fault? the questions sometimes go without an answer for their entire lives. I recently met a young mother who with her newborn son, made the journey to our great state from Florida. Court ordered to  residential treatment program there, she left that state, traveled to Springfield Massachusetts and moved in with her baby's father. After weeks of fighting her ex over his controlling nature, heroin use and striking her in front of their newborn, she left him, took her son and entered Friendly House's shelter program for families. This young woman, twenty three years old with a truly delightful personality, found out eight months ago that she was HIV positive. A month later she learned she had passed the virus to her son in her womb. She cared for her son from birth to seven months. Administering his medication cocktail, feeding him, nurturing him under quite possibly one of the most difficult times of his young life, newborn and ill. She did not falter. With criminal charges possibly pending in Florida an abusive possessive boyfriend scouring the city in search of her here and herself and her newborn both HIV positive she had quite a lot on her plate. Not once did she even consider handing her son over and going for broke. She got into an argument with the shelter director one morning. It seems the girl, who is quite attractive, was getting in the director's words too much attention from the male inhabitants of the shelter. They even smoked a blunt of marijuana with her.With nothing more serious than that to go on, this self righteous family shelter director accused the young mother with neglect. Her assertion was that her infant son was not being properly cared for because there was no infant formula in the room. Frantic the mother asked whoever she could to help her out with the eight dollar baby formula cost. All to no avail. By the time she had scraped together the money then went to make the purchase, the shelter director was on the phone calling DCF, the Agency. The mother returned to the shelter with formula in hand, only to be told that it was too late, DCF were on their way. Stunned the mother just stood there with the unopened box of baby formula in hand as they took from her the thing that mattered most to her. The one person she had cared for, nurtured and loved. After that, the young mother tried taking her own life. She now resides somewhere between hopelessness and defeat from the loss. Every now and again she will perk up when talk is made of fighting back and challenging the Agency.

The Agency

I have, for some time now been embroiled in a custody battle for my son. There is nothing in this world that means more to me than him. He was taken way on the day of his birth, and for the past year my time with him has been limited to two hours twice a month. When he is brought to me on these visits he is always a little bewildered. He doesn't seem to know what's going on. His foster parents, who by all outward appearances seem normal, must keep him awake and unfed just prior to these visits, so that he is cranky and irritable. Once he is in my arms he calms right down, it is almost as if he knows there is some unbroken bond of love between us that our time apart can't break. Myself, I am always depressed when he comes to me and when he leaves. I feel like I have let him down in a way a parent should never allow. The need to nurture him and protect him is more than I can bear, but my hands are tied, he is in the control of the agency. He was taken as  result of DCF becoming involved in his mothers life some fourteen years ago. That was when her first child was taken from her. Since then four other children were taken due to their mothers substance abuse and homelessness issues. My son makes six. This may seem like an awful predicament and the mother must seem like some kind of monster, but I have never seen someone so deliberate and caring with a child as she. This birth would have been her best chance to become what she has always wanted to be, a mom. She has faced her demons, resolved her homelessness issues and basically gotten her life on track, but due to DCF  involvement her chances of getting her son back are slim. I have never had a child taken from me like this. I have lost a son at birth and a daughter at twelve, but never before have I had to face an agency as devious and resourceful as this. They are willing to spend untold amounts of money to foster parents, lawyers, workers, psychologists, and other support staff not just for the well being of a child, but so that they can justify there position their child takings and their jobs. My son was injured while in the care of his foster parents and now has a scar over his eye he will carry for life. This in addition to the untold emotional scars this placement will most certainly have on him. The criteria the agency places on determining suitability for parenthood revolves around their service plan. This set of do's and don'ts is changed at a whim, and the bar is constantly raised once tasks are completed. This ruthless system has played untold havoc in the lives of millions of children and parents. Alcohol abuse, obesity and neglect are non existent problems that this agency fails to address. Their only concern is if a parent is using or not. I am not saying that use of illegal substances is an issue that should be ignored, what I am saying is that millions of people lead perfectly functional lives doing so. Cigarettes by far the most addictive of all drugs are openly sold and taxed. No child is taken from their parents for abusing this drug. If we as a society must set the bar for acceptable behavior lets start there.