Just A Wrapper?
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Last week, I introduced you to the thought of teenagers needing a loving home. This week, I want you to see one story that tells you why better than I ever could.
Let's begin with a quote from an LA Times article (keep in mind that these numbers reflect Los Angeles only, not the whole country):
"At least 268 children who had passed through the child welfare system died from January 2008 through early August 2009, according to internal county records. They show that 213 were by unnatural or undetermined causes, including 76 homicides, 35 accidents and 16 suicides."
I used to tell my students to imagine the little bit of trash they left behind on the lunch tables...or to think about the bit of litter they left behind on the sidewalk while walking home from school. They would immediately tell me, "But... it's so small. It's a wrapper." Right. Just a wrapper.
Then, I would tell them to imagine their friend's wrapper and their friend's wrapper and their friend's wrapper. And then to think about, if everyone at the school left behind a wrapper... and then picture all the schools in the city leaving behind a wrapper...and then all the schools in the state...and all the schools in the country...
The looks I got at that point turned to, "Oh my goodness. Where does it all go?? What happens?"
These numbers provided by The Times are the wrapper. "But...it's just one county." Just one county. Right. How many counties are in the entire nation?
Miguel Padilla was 17-years-old.
Miguel went through LA County's child welfare and juvenile justice system. He didn't have the average foster care experience. He wasn't a baby waiting for someone to take him home.
Denise Tomey, executive director of the Carousel Ranch in Santa Clarita said, "He had no self esteem. He walked with his head down and he wore that heavy jacket, even if it was 105 degrees out. He thought people judged him because he was missing an arm. He really was one of those kids that, if he'd been in the right situation, he would have ended up being a totally different person."
What happened to Miguel?
Using his only arm, he climbed into a tree, tied a makeshift noose and hanged himself. Even more tragically, it took nine days before anyone even noticed he hadn't been around. Nine days.
Diana L. Chapman, a journalist who worked for the Daily Breeze and the San Diego Union, recently wrote about this tragedy. If only my words could be as powerful as hers:
"Adults sit around questioning whether kids are more violent and less compassionate today. The answer is yes because they take their lessons from the very people teaching them--all the adults surround them in their lives--who often to nothing. That unfortunately includes us."
Do something.
I plead once more.
Irini Connerton is a graduate student in Annenberg's broadcast journalism program. Before this amazing adventure began, she was an elementary school teacher for six years. Family and children's issues are close to her heart. Irini's dream is to be an anchor on the morning news, laughing and informing you with a hot cup of coffee in front of her.
