Friday, June 27, 2008
compassion
Parent and child in one room is not the best solution.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
appeal refused.
Mary Anne Kohn has shown no remorse for the effect of her actions on a young child.
Mary Anne Kohn finally admitted that I responded in her time frame. However, she scheduled a meeting this week at a day and time she was clearly told I was unavailable.
Hmmm...
Apparently she wanted to meet with me, no matter what, the week of the 16th expecting me to miss work and lose pay. Makes no sense to me. Work = Money = permanent, stable housing.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Child worried about her toys
We went to get some clothes and saw all our things piled in garbage bags in the COTS office. My child started screaming / crying. She said she was worried about her toy box and asked why it was there. The staff person said to her, “We took your things out of the room so that another family can have the room.” Wrong thing to say to a three year old!
Staff could have said something more developmentally appropriate like:
"We’re keeping it safe for you because we know it is important to you."
Thursday, June 19, 2008
“Get out”
Tatum, COTS employee, called me at 7:40 p.m. on my mobile phone while I was studying for my class. He said, “You have 20 minutes to get your things, then you need to be out of the shelter. You have to get out so we can give the room to someone else.”
My three year old cried, worried about her stuffed animals. When she went to get them, Hillary said in front of her, “You have 30 minutes!” [gee whiz, when we moved in they said we had four months; it hasn't been four months yet]
She cried and said to me "what will we eat for breakfast?"
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
"Quiet Hours"
I have bronchitis again; all I want to do is sleep.
Child chose to move out
The parent of a 12 year old child told me that the child has moved out. It was the child’s decision because he was tired of the degrading way they treat us here. Staff doesn't even realize that he's gone!
no show
Bedtime and quiet hours not being enforced
I woke by two adults from different rooms talking in the hallway (before quiet hours end at 7 am). One of them told me that she does not get points for her child being up after 9 pm at night. She said she’s told as “long as her child isn’t downstairs or outside and if she is she just gets a warning.” (Staff issue 3 points for the bedtime violation to other families; after receiving 20 points a family is kicked out to the streets; IF they consistently enforced this there are a number of families that would have been kicked out after one week!! The maximum scheduled family stay is four months)
She said that if they “don’t like a particular family, that’s it.”
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
7 year old cannot find mom
Seven year old child in room 7 is standing in the hallway saying, “Mom?” It's after 9:30 at night!
Bedtime
3 guests have their children still awake and downstairs or outside. It is 9:21 p.m. Room 1 adult and child (under age 12) are outside. Room 1 child is up every night very late. She has been in other person’s rooms as late as 11 pm. They have been here for a few weeks. If staff had enforced the bedtime rule (children in bed by 9 pm) she would have received 3 points every night in one week for a total of 21 points, thereby kicking her out. It appears that points are not enforced consistently and only used when staff wants to exercise power and control over a particular client.
Preschooler mad about being homeless
My child is crying because she is upset we had to come here after the adult we were living with died and her children changed their mind about us living there and kicked us out (the house was then vacant for months). She’s been very upset about this for a long time.
Forced relocation and homelessness has been hard on her.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Room to spare?
A guest said that two other guests recently spent a night at a hotel together. Apparently even though they have separate rooms here, they sometimes share a room at night.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Washing clothes
I am washing clothes and need to dry them. All staff know that I go to sleep at 9:30 p.m. At 9 p.m. another resident emptied the dryer so I can dry my clothes. A staff member says, “I need to remind you to not wash your clothes so late.” (completely disregarding my day full of appointments and the fact that we have one assigned day to wash clothes). The “reminder” felt condescending. The dryer took two hours to dry the flannel sheets! Perhaps the issue is the dryer; not a person who deserves to be treated with dignity.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Homework
* Courses are mandatory for work. Work = money = permanent housing (Not petty; imperative!).
Staff took my keys
I was mopping the downstairs hallway. Leah Sohotra, staff person took my key ring, which contains vehicle keys and keys for my place of employment.
I went into the office where Leah, Jill, and Hillary were. I asked for my keys. Hillary did not respond. Jill looked confused, looked around, and said, “has anyone seen any keys?” Leah, standing next to her, did not respond. Jill looked back at me, concerned. I told Jill to ask Leah for my keys back. When Jill did; Leah finally acknowledged that she had them saying, “oh, these?” as she pulled from her pants.
Communication
pain killer
Other shelters in this state provide lock boxes for residents to to individually lock their medicine, keep it safe from children, and monitor their own medicine.
This shelter wants everything locked in the office so they can control it. COTS makes some adults take pain killer in front of them in the office (pain killer = Aspirin or Tylenol).
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
phone calls
I've left them messages. Julie Lowell has pretended to not receive the messages. She has not returned or acknowledged my calls to her. Her supervisor wants me to call her AT MY EXPENSE!!! I do NOT have money to pay phone bills.