Kid's planet

Emalie and I sat with our backs against the wall, hands in laps. It was raining and light from the windows above us reflected from the stark, institutionally white walls of the corridor. There were perhaps a dozen other people there leaning against the wall or seated on the low wooden benches that lined the wall. The door to family courtroom #1 was locked. We waited. We had all gone through a security check like the one at the airport, keys and phone in the tray, step through the metal detector. Nobody here looked like they were going to Paris or Rome or Disney Land. It was 9 am and we had all put ourselves together as best we could; fragmented families looking at the pieces, trying to make them fit, trying to make a picture that resembled something, meant something. The only color was in the kids room. It was set into the facing wall like a cave with vivid, lively murals on the walls and full bins in primary colors brimming with toys of all sizes. There were smiles, bright white teeth, dancing, explosions of action and sound, a kids' planet light years away from ours. The doors to the courtroom opened and we filled in, leaving our beautiful cave dwellers behind while we went about the somber business of deciding their fate.

Our advocate, at Legal Assistance for Seniors www.lashicap.org  ,told us that they have been inundated with cases like ours. She said that instances of Grandparents having to take custody of their grandchildren had reached epidemic proportions. The Children's Defence fund states that 750,000 children in this country are neglected or abused every year; that's one child every 42 seconds. The Us Census Bureau, <http://factfinder.census.gov/, has these facts: 2.7 million grand parents are raising their grandchildren. 5.4 million grandchildren live with their grand parents. 2.7 million grand parents are responsible for the basic needs of their grandchildren and 580,000 of these grandparents have incomes at or below poverty level.

If you are part of these statistics, like Emalie, here are some Family Support Services of the Bay Area:

http://fssba.org/

They offer the following services, which may be of help.  They are a wonderful organization:

Respite & Child Care Intermittent childcare to parents and other caregivers in Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Francisco counties.

Family Preservation Intensive home-based services to San Francisco and Oakland families whose children are at imminent risk of removal from their homes.

Kinship Support Offers much-needed support to grandparents and other relative caregivers who are caring for kin children who have been removed from the care of their biological parents.

OreMi Mentoring Serves children in the Alameda County foster care system, and children of incarcerated parents by creating lasting one-on-one mentoring relationships.

Destiny Arts Center, which offers all sorts of fantastic dance classes for kids but is way more than a dance studio. 

http://www.destinyarts.org/

Destiny Arts Center exists to end isolation, prejudice and violence in the lives of young people.

We accomplish our mission by:

·         Offering skills training to youth, ages 3-18, through after-school, weekend and summer programs in the performing and martial arts, and violence prevention at our main site, and in outreach programs at local schools and community centers.

·         Providing youth with caring adult mentors.

·         Supporting youth in developing an individualized series of artistic expression.

·         Giving youth opportunities to share a message of peace and empowerment through performances, events, and workshops.

·         Nurturing the physical, emotional and spiritual development of young people.

Hope this is helpful, and remember, even in the hardest of times, just a glimpse at kids' planet is a blessing.