The neighbors I have recently met.

The neighbors I have recently met.

There have been new residents that have moved into the apartment complex in which I live. The two families that I have met have a story to be told.

The neighbor that lives across the way is Carmen and her husband. She is from Romania. I carefully listened to her speak and noticed she had a lot of Spanish in her dialect and very little English. Google translator may not be the best way to communicate but it does help. I was under the impression that she left her children in Romania with her mother. That was not the case.

The third time of she and I sitting down to have coffee, she gave me this huge folder of all types of paperwork. As I worked my way through it, I was dumb founded. According to her broken language, her two children were stolen from her by the State of Texas and are up for adoption two years ago. They were 5 and 11 when they were taken from her at Texas Children’s Hospital. As I started reading the paperwork in the folder, I just didn’t know what to say. The oldest daughter was admitted into the hospital with rashes on her hand and back. The medical testing revealed that this young girl had a bad case of untreated syphilis with evidence of sexual abuse. Of course, at age 11, the hospital notified the proper authorities.

The assigned social worker followed the proper channels and an interpreter was made available for questioning. It seems that the mother, Carmen, was claiming that when she was pregnant with the 11- year old, she had (the mother) had contracted syphilis from her husband and the child was born with it. The first flare up was in France in which she was treated. No determination as to who sexually abused the child was ever determined. Both children were placed in protective custody. The 5-year old had no sexually transmitted diseases and had not been sexually abused.

Further investigation revealed that the both did not have a stable home (address) nor had the children ever been registered for school.  The parents address listed was bogus and so were the school records. The state moved to seize permanent custody of the children and were awarded such in 2015.

Meanwhile, Carmen is sad because she honestly doesn’t understand why her daughters were taken from her. She wanted me to help her find them so she can get them back. I tried to reason with her explaining the laws in the state of Texas and in most states about this. I eventually agreed stating “I will see what I can do.”

I did nothing because I felt that it was in the best interest of her children. I did advise her, through using the translator, to get an attorney. She declined.

I don’t know the culture of the Romanian people; Carmen told me they were Gypsies. The term Gypsy was mentioned in the court documents. I cannot empathize with her over the circumstances because of my ignorance. Besides I am extremely sensitive to children period. I just explained to her that when her children turn 18, she would be able to see them. I can understand her sadness because as a mother, I would be sad.

I did realize that, as a society, we do not take the time to educate immigrants on the ways of our society especially pertaining to the law. All I can do is pray for the safety of those two girls. She had pictures of them with their foster family and they seemed extremely happy, well cared for, attending school, and look as if they are living the life of children.

The other family that I recently met, are born Americans originally from Albany, New York. They had been in Texas since 1965. In the home is a widowed Mother, Lucy, her two sons and her grandson that helps her on occasion. The oldest son works off shore. The youngest son, 43, stares in space.

From what Lucy told me, her youngest son, Shaun, was hanging around the wrong people when he was about 18 years old. Apparently, from what I am able to piece together it was a violent gang. They beat him so severely that it caused brain damage. He spent two years in and out of the hospital, with surgeries, and rehabilitation. He has never been able to work. His back was broken in multiple places, both hips fractured, both legs broken, and an arm. He took 22 stitches to his skull as well as a broken nose, and detached retina. The police never found out who had beaten him close to death.

Shaun’s father spent years working with his son to help get him back on his feet. Lucy’s husband died in his sleep one night. His heart gave out. Shaun never spoke again after the death of his father.

Lucy has to instruct him with every function in life. She puts him to bed, tells him to go the bathroom, etc. She even tells him to sit and eat. If she or her grandson doesn’t instruct him, he just sits there. I occasionally watched him pat his mother’s hand.  

After visiting with them, I did learn that if I acknowledge Shaun by shaking his hand, he looks directly at me in the eyes and nods. I had watched them for a while enough to know, his actions are an everyday occurrence of a man who is in nothing more than a shell.

Lucy told me when she had a bad auto accident, Shaun came down sick and she had to call an ambulance to him. No one was able to take care of him, so the hospital social worker released him to a group home, which he did not adjust to at all socially. He caused a major problem. She (Lucy) was finally able to get in touch with her older son, who was off shore, and had him come home to get him. 

Now, she lives closer to other family, and has a better back up system. Lucy is about 70 years old and is very concerned about the future for Shaun.

All I can do for them is listen and pray.

The reason I am sharing this is because I am fortunate than most. We each have a path to travel and we cannot travel in another person’s shoes. Life changes with every second that we live.

Do not judge them for they are strangers in this world of ours like all of us. We each have those unknown factors that affect the way we live. I am thankful that God is on my side. How can I get them to look toward God when all seems lost? HE (God) will show me the answer.