Mother fears eviction may prompt foster care for kids

[astro]

Story from a local paper. I don’t know… it’s just hard to work up a big load of sympathy for this lady wanting to play the victim card.

Mother fears eviction may prompt foster care for kids

[sub]SALISBURY – Barbara Hillard lives at her Booth Street home on borrowed time. The single mother was asked to leave Wicomico County Housing Authority property back in September after she lost a landlord-tenant lawsuit alleging substandard living conditions.

Hillard said she would find another place to stay, but she has eight reasons to keep her there. Without the home, Hillard said her children, ranging from 3 months to 13 years in age, will be shuttled off to foster homes because their mom has been labeled a bad housekeeper.

“Social Services would probably come and take them to put a roof over their head,” she said. “But there’s no shelter big enough for us.”

When Hillard signed her lease on the town house, one of the stipulations was to keep the premises clean to prevent health or sanitation problems from arising. Three times officials for the housing authority went to Hillard’s home to check on suspected poor living conditions. Three times housing authorities found the place to be filthy and unsanitary. Hillard said she blames her troubles on getting over a pregnancy and bad timing by inspectors. She also thinks she is being made an example of by the housing authority.

“I feel there’s been a vendetta against me,” she said. “We’re being picked on.”

On Jan. 29, 2002, Hillard was given an eviction notice after failing to comply to standards, said attorney Robin Cockey, who represented the housing authority in last year’s suit against Hillard. After Hillard lost the suit in August, Cockey said she agreed to waive any right to appeal the decision if the housing authority gave her until Sept. 25, 2002, to leave. When the due date came, Hillard remained at 915 Booth Street. Cockey said the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office can physically remove her from the house that she has been squatting in.

“I was told by my legal aid lawyer that the papers have been filed,” Hillard said. “I’m just waiting for that knock.”

Karen Dennis, who’s known Hillard since they were teenagers, said Hillard’s scrutiny might be a little heavy.

“If being a little lazy and a little filthy is a crime, then we’re all guilty,” she said.

Even though she lives her days with uncertainty, Hillard said she continues to clean and has made good on inspections from other agencies. Ann White, Hillard’s mother, is already saddled with her own obligations – taking care of her sick mother – and hopes that her daughter and the housing authority can come to some agreement.

“I don’t want to see my child and grandchildren out on the street,” she said.

[/sub]

[Arcana]

I have to wonder how many different fathers spawned the eight children. It sounds like foster homes would be the best thing that ever happened to these kids. What kind of genius bears eight children into poverty conditions? She should be sterilized.

[kambuckta]

Arcana, jumping to conclusions much? It’s really amazing how people automatically assume that anybody with a large family (any more than two kids that is) must also include a number of fathers of the kids. It doesn’t always work that way you know.

And just why would they be better off in foster homes? Apart from being a lousy housekeeper, there is no indication in the article that the kids were being mistreated or neglected. She might indeed be the best mum in the world, and anybody who can care for eight kids (without social services stepping in for reasons other than a grotty house) is doing a sterling job IMHO.

She’s been labelled a bad housekeeper, not a bad mother.

:rolleyes:

[percypercy]

At the risk of sounding like I’m agreeing with Arcana whose post was utterly repugnant, I’ve gotta say it sounds like Mrs. Hillard is in the wrong. When she signed the lease, she agreed to keep the house in good condition. The housing inspectors found the children living in what they considered to be unsanitary conditions. She had three chances to clean it up. In addition, she has at least one kid(a thirteen year old) that she could get to help her if she’s recovering from pregnancy. The article doesn’t say how old her other children are, but even young children can and should do simple chores around the house. Having said that, I’m going to clean up my bedroom because it truly is foul.
-Lil

[kambuckta]

*Originally posted by percypercy *
**Having said that, I’m going to clean up my bedroom because it truly is foul.
-Lil **

Hey percypercy, when you’ve finished yours d’ya wanna come and give me a hand with mine? I can’t see my floor at the moment (actually, now I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I could.

[lorinada]

*Originally posted by kambuckta *
**Arcana, jumping to conclusions much? It’s really amazing how people automatically assume that anybody with a large family (any more than two kids that is) must also include a number of fathers of the kids. It doesn’t always work that way you know.

And just why would they be better off in foster homes? Apart from being a lousy housekeeper, there is no indication in the article that the kids were being mistreated or neglected. She might indeed be the best mum in the world, and anybody who can care for eight kids ** (without social services stepping in **for reasons other than a grotty house) is doing a sterling job IMHO.

She’s been labelled a bad housekeeper, not a bad mother.

:rolleyes: **

Although I agree with you indignance over Arcana’s assumption, the fact is, social services has stepped in. The article stated she is being evicted from public housing.

[InternetLegend]

I’m a fairly lax housekeeper my own self, so I don’t feel overly judgemental when I wonder just how dirty a house has to be for the housing authority to evict someone? A good friend of mine is a child protective services worker, and even when my house is dirty, she’s never warned me I could lose my kids over it. Are we talking dirty dishes in the sink and a layer of dust, or is this one of those cases where there are animal feces on the floor and rats running rampant in the kitchen? And wouldn’t one be a little more careful about one’s cleanliness if inspectors had already been by twice? If the house was truly dirty enough to be a threat to health or a sanitation problem and she wasn’t moved to clean it up after being warned twice, just what would it take to get her to do something about it? I find I’m not feeling very sympathetic about it.

Now that I’ve looked around my house while thinking about this, I think I’ll go clean.

[kambuckta]

*Originally posted by lorinada *
**Although I agree with you indignance over Arcana’s assumption, the fact is, social services has stepped in. The article stated she is being evicted from public housing. **

…(without social services stepping in for reasons other than a grotty house)…

What I meant was that Social Services has come into the picture now, but there was no indication that this lady has ever had dealings with them before. That she has all eight kids in her custody and care meant she must’ve been doing something right, and speaks more for her competence than her lack of ‘genius’.

Rotten domestic skills do not necessarily equal a lack of parenting skills is all I’m saying.

[doreen]

It looks to me that the woman fears that being evicted itself, regardless of the reason might cause the children to go into foster care -and I suppose it might if that means the family will end up on the streets, or if no shelter can accomodate such a large family.

I’m a fairly lax housekeeper my own self, so I don’t feel overly judgemental when I wonder just how dirty a house has to be for the housing authority to evict someone?

I used to be a child protective worker, and I only know of one case where children were removed sort of because of a dirty house. I say sort of, because while the utility workers who reported it reported it because of the filth, there actually turned out be be other issues (let’s just say there were neither animals nor toddlers to account for the feces). And still, before the children were removed, giving the family a full-time homemaker was tried to improve the situation.We couldn’t have cared less about dirty dishes and dust or piles of clothing all over the living room.