No Easy Answers

We have written about the newspaper the homeless sell called "The Contributor" before.   Yesterday Ted and I were in Frankilin and had an opportunity to buy another one. 

Sometimes I don't read much of them but did pick this one up this morning and read a lengthly article about a lady and her daughter that appeared to be homeless.   The daughter was 20 years old but looked much younger as she had Downs Syndrome.   They sometimes lived in a car, sometimes with friends, sometimes with the ladies older son, and sometimes someone would offer to get them a motel room.

The person writing the article was the Outreach Chairperson of a local church and had spent a lot of time with this lady and her daughter.   She learned they came here from New York and while living in New York had been friends of the Mennonites and so dressed as they did.     They ate as much fresh food as they could and although things were not GREAT for them, they seemed to be doing pretty well and seemed content.

HOWEVER...one person that saw them became very concerned that the "child" was being used to get people to buy the papers and was therefore being mistreated.    This person somehow got a court order to have the mother and daughter appear in court.    Since the mother did not know what was coming, she willingly went.  

It turned out that the lady was appointed guardian of this "child" and they took her from her mother.  

It's a terribly sad story, heart wrenching for a mother to read and have a little idea of how that mother felt, to say nothing of how the child felt.

All this was done with presumably good intentions and the author of the article reminds us what gets paved with good intentions.   We've all paved a bit of that highway, I expect.

There is no easy answer and it bothers me a lot that this kind of thing can happen.   BUT...since this paper is sold by homeless people there was another note in this article about homeless in Nashville.    Apparently as much as anyone can tell there are 20,000 homeless children on the streets of Nashville. 

I am as guilty as anyone but all I can think of is that our churches are failing when this happens.   Our church helps with Room At The Inn program and from November 1 to April 1 every year we take 12 homeless men in and house them every Thursday night.     Monday I learned last Thursday night they had a family show up. 
We feed them a good hot dinner, they can get a shower, do some laundry, and sleep in a warm place.   The next morning they are given a hot breakfast and given a sack lunch and taken back to the streets.   This is bad enough for adults, but when  you are talking about children, well, I get a little weak thinking of what these kids do after school and on Saturday's and Sunday's. 

Yes, there are NO easy answers.