by P.J. McWilliam
Dorothy Green had raised her 5 children the best
she knew how, but it hadn't been easy doing so all on her own.
After her husband died at age 34 from a heart attack, leaving
her only with the small amount of money she received from the
life insurance policy he had through the packing company, Dorothy
had gone to work at the K&W cafeteria. She worked as a food
server there for nearly 15 years, until her legs wore out and
she finally had to quit. Now she received partial disability payments
from the state. It wasn't much, but she had managed to get by
on it and the little bit of extra she made working at the concession
stand at the skating rink on Thursday and Friday nights. When
she took on caring for Jonathan and baby Kisha, however, she had
had to quit the concession stand because there was no one to look
after the children so she could go to work in the evenings. Dorothy
had always thought she'd be done raising kids by this time in
her life, but here she was raising two more from scratch.
Where had she gone wrong? Even on the little bit
of money she had, Dorothy had always made sure her children had
food to eat, warm clothes in the winter, and shoes on their feet.
Even if it meant doing without herself, her children were always
taken care of. She also brought her children up with the Bible
and took them to church on Sundays. The two oldest boys had done
all right by themselves. At least they had jobs and managed to
support their families. But her third child, Robert, had gotten
mixed up with the wrong crowd, dropped out of school, gotten himself
in trouble with the law, and had spent time in jail. He was out
now and working odd jobs here and there, but he was still living
with Dorothy. It was the two girls that had fared the worst. Maybe
it was because they were younger than the boys when their father
died and Dorothy wasn't always at home to see to it that they
stayed out of trouble. Whatever the reason, both of them had gotten
themselves pregnant and dropped out of school before they graduated.
Lynette, the older of the girls, had lived at home with her first
born for about a year and a half. Then she got pregnant again
and married the second baby's father. That only lasted for about
two years, until he ran off on Lynette to be with another woman.
Now Lynette was raising those two kids by herself.
It was even worse with Brianna, the younger of Dorothy's
girls and the baby of the family. As if it wasn't bad enough that
Brianna had gotten herself pregnant, she had also gotten herself
mixed up with drugs. Dorothy blamed it on the boy who had gotten
Brianna pregnant with Jonathan. He was nearly five years older
than Brianna and Dorothy could tell from the very start that he
was no good. Shortly after Jonathan was born, the boy talked Brianna
into leaving home and living with him. But that didn't last for
long and Brianna was not only left to take care of Jonathan by
herself, but also left pregnant with Kisha. When Kisha was born,
the doctors at the hospital had told Dorothy that Brianna had
been using drugs when she was pregnant. Brianna swore that she
hadn't been and Dorothy had believed her. But now, Dorothy knew
differently.
An old woman living in the apartment above Brianna's
had reported her to Social Services, and when they came to check
up on the children they found the children dirty and hungry and
Brianna passed out on the couch. Only later did Dorothy find out
that this wasn't the first time Brianna had been reported for
neglecting her babies. They took Jonathan and Kisha away from
Brianna and put them in foster care. When Dorothy found out what
had happened she went straight down to Social Services and got
temporary custody of her two grandbabies. At the time, Jonathan
was almost 3 years old and Kisha was only 10 months old.
The children have been living with Dorothy for almost
six months now. Brianna is supposedly in drug rehabilitation,
but Dorothy isn't so sure what to believe. Social Services says
Brianna can visit with the kids once a week, but sometimes she
doesn't show up when she's supposed to and, even when she does
come by, she doesn't always seem right. Hopefully, Brianna will
straighten herself out eventually. In the meantime, what choice
does Dorothy have but to take care of her grandbabies as best
she can? She sees to it that they are fed and bathed and have
clean clothes to wear, but taking care of two little ones isn't
always easy. Especially on days when her legs are hurting, keeping
after Jonathan can be a real challenge. He can be a real pistol
sometimes and, when he takes to having one of his tantrums, it
takes its toll on Dorothy. Kisha is, by nature, a little calmer
but she's still a toddler and gets into things if she isn't watched
constantly. To make matters worse, Lynette has gotten herself
a part-time job at the dry cleaners and drops her two little ones
off for Dorothy to watch while she's at work. Lynette keeps telling
her that she's going to get the kids in child care, but finding
someone or someplace that will keep them for a half-day three
days a week and that's reasonably priced isn't easy. Then there's
the practical matters of daily life that add to Dorothy's burden.
For example, she doesn't have a car and, on her limited income,
she doesn't even think about ever owning one. Sometimes one of
Robert's friends drives her to the grocery or other places she
needs to go, but usually she has to go on the bus with the children
in tow. This is also how she gets the children to the doctor's
or other places that aren't within a short walk from home.
