Yet another child killer? ....was..... Woman adopted at age 4 fosters children herself

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 04:55:40 -0400, wexwimpy
wrote:

......what wex fails to point out here, and Doug makes us conscious of
so well, is that there is research supporting that this women, she and
her husband, are, as foster parents, 8 to 10 times more likely to
abuse children in their care than families in the general population
would.

What is a great puzzle to me though is how, when they WERE members of
that very population of general population, they were so much less
likely, and now they are.

Were they trained to kill by CPS?

As it is alleged they are 3 times more likely to do as a foster family
than as a gen pop bio family?

Were they trained to abuse by CPS?

Or is Doug full of it?

Possibly he would like to point to online published materials that the
researchers he cites as athority for the claim so we could read the
whole of what they said.

I find the habit of making claims, while concealing the larger
picture, something more common to the most flackish of journalists.

Not quite "jacklegs" mind you, but similar.

By the way, except where I namecall with an obscenity, which is of
course always understood to be open to question, or with outrageously
impossible names...like plant names for humans, I am careful to make
sure the name I use applies.

For instance, when I say "jackleg" I am usually quoting someone else
that used it, and I believe erroneously and insultingly toward
professionals, often degreed professionals..

But when I say "flacks" I intend it to be accurate.

flak also flack ( P ) Pronunciation Key (flk)
n.

Antiaircraft artillery.
The bursting shells fired from such artillery.

Nope, I missed that time.....R R R R R. I don't really think
any of you are artillery bursts, though you do fizzle out like they do
after their initial explosive attempt to damage socieity.

Informal.
Excessive or abusive criticism.
Dissension; opposition.

Gee, see, whee, now I'm on target.

And if you wish to label me as a flack, be sure and consider who
started this exchange out CPS....Most of YOU were here long before me
with your "flack."

Kane

Woman adopted at age 4 fosters children herself

By ERIN KELLY

LAKE CHARLES, La. Easter Belizare was 4 years old when her daddy made
a promise that he'd come back for her. He said he wouldn't be gone
long, and he'd come back on a train.

In elementary school, Easter's friends knew her mother had died and
that the woman she lived with wasn't her real mama, but a foster
parent. They knew that her father lived somewhere else, but Easter
would always tell them about all the fun things they did together.
They flew kites, she told them, and he would take her fishing.

"I would tell all kinds of tall tales," Easter, now 70, said. "They
were all telling stories about their daddies, and I wanted to have
stories to tell, too."

The truth was, she never saw her father again until she was 18 and he
was dying in the hospital. At his bedside, she demanded to know why
he
gave her away, why he told people at the hospital he didn't have any
children and, most of all, why he never came back on a train.

"He said he didn't know how to do it all alone," she said. "He told
people at the hospital he didn't have any kids because he never did
anything for us, so he didn't deserve to call us his children."

He died 30 minutes later, at her side.

Easter married Joseph Belizare and had five daughters. They adopted
one of their grandsons and, after all the girls were out of the
house,
they decided to become foster parents.

Over the past 20 years, Easter and Joseph have provided a home for
more than a dozen boys, including their current four - ages 10, 14,
16
and 17.

"I understand them," Easter said. "I'm one of them."

Easter welcomed the responsibility and the company of the boys, while
Joseph worked around the clock. Her soft discipline has often
perplexed her husband, who says she has "the patience of Job."

Easter defends her tenderness with empathy.

"I've had them say 'I hate you!' or 'Shut up!' I get angry, but I
just
sit back and be quiet. I know what they're going through. I had the
same thoughts when I was their age," Easter says. "There's also a lot
of them who just want to create drama, because that's all they know.

"I'd watch how they treated their toys. They'd throw them against the
wall, yell at them and throw them in the corner. They were playing
out
their lives. I didn't want that for them."

When one of her boys refused to play recreational baseball, she
signed
him up anyway and told him to sit on the bench. He sat there, in his
uniform, until the urge to play got the better of him, and he
wandered
onto the field. Trophies now adorn her living room bookcase.

When she wanted one of her boys to learn how to swim, she took
lessons
too, even though she's terrified of water.

When a 13-year-old begged her to keep him so he wouldn't have to go
into a halfway house, she did. He promised to be good, and he was.
He's now in the Marines and recently gave her a Mother's Day card
with
the inscription: "One day I will be able to repay all you have done
for me."

When the boys did things well, she rewarded them with pizza parties
and trips to the movies. When they didn't do so well, she took away
the television or the telephone.

When one of her boys accidentally burned down the house, she didn't
whip him for playing with matches. They moved, and he moved with
them.

She's shared her own stories over the years, so the boys know that
she
understands what it's like to feel unwanted.

"Kids understand a lot, and they remember things more than adults
realize," she said. "I was only 4 years old when my father left, and
every time I hear a train whistle blow, I remember what he promised
me. Even today."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb.../APN/405290675
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org,
become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at
http://www.aclu.org/action.

There a lot more to this story that isn't mentioned.

She is yet another foster child who yearned to be reunited with her
family... even the dad who abandoned here.

She adopted her grandchild... probably born out of wed-lock... without CPS
interference.

I have to wonder how many of her boys were on medications...probably none
cuz she lets them act out their frustrations. She understood and allows
'drama' as she calls it. She understands the sometimes destrutive
behavior.

She offered permanency to children who wanted to stay with her... and
probably fought CPS to do so. Her home is not a revolving door for foster
kids... she stuck by them for all time... which was the original intent of
foster care and doesn't need the offering of adoption. However, she is in
danger of losing the 10 year old if someone wants to adopt him... and that
would be sad.

She provided or forced opportunities such as recreational baseball... and
swimming... experinces of all kinds is most important in a child's life.
She saw something there others probably would've missed. Obviously, none of
here kids well allowed to hang out on the corner.

The child who burned down the house would be in a youth home ... or jail..
..these days.

I could go on and on...

bobb