{"id":16902,"date":"2019-11-19T12:49:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T16:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/?p=16902"},"modified":"2019-11-22T12:47:42","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T16:47:42","slug":"julianne_lockwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/2019\/11\/19\/julianne_lockwood\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conversation with Marie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shared by Julianne Lockwood<\/h2><\/div>

Julianne is an AACPS:<\/strong>\u00a0Pupil Personnel Worker<\/h3>\n

Marie had been retired for one month when the call came. It was her great-granddaughter, Sarah saying \u201cDSS [Department of Social Services] is here and they are going to take the boys. Can you take them?\u201d Sarah had been struggling with heroin addiction for years and was recently convicted on theft and prostitution charges. The father was actively using heroin and she needed someone to take her two young boys.<\/p>\n

I asked Marie about that moment, explaining I hear similar stories of grandparents, receiving similar calls, and being posed the same question \u2013 will you take the kids? Understandably, all say yes, as the alternative is foster care. But do they really know what they are agreeing to at that moment? Did Marie know she was agreeing to being the sole provider to two young boys (both with learning and mental health issues), with no financial assistance, and with no on-going oversight from the Department of Social Services or any other agency?<\/p>\n

Before continuing, Marie reminded me she is Sarah\u2019s great-grandmother. She is 74 years old.<\/p>\n

Marie told Sarah to \u201cput the social worker on the phone\u201d and then asked the social worker to \u201cwait until I get there before making any decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

I understand when Marie tells me there was no other choice. Now three years later, Marie shares there have been some challenging days. She is well known (and well liked) by the school\u2019s Principal and front office staff, in part because there is frequent contact regarding one of the boy\u2019s behavioral issues. One incident culminated in the Principal calling the Anne Arundel County Crisis Response team.<\/p>\n

Marie and I wondered what young children and infants internalize while living with drug addicted parents. What do they see? What do they hear? And how does it affect them later in life? Marie recalls one of the boys telling her of a time when \u201cDad took us to Baltimore and left us in the car when he went to see his friend.\u201d She spoke of how unsettled the boys are after a visit (although rare) with either one of their parents.<\/p>\n

Marie is grateful for her son\u2019s support with planning outings and activities with the boys; enrolling them in recreation league sports; and serving as a father figure. The boys receive in-school therapeutic support through Villa Maria Mental Health Services, and according to Marie, are making good progress.<\/p>\n

Marie participates in a monthly kinship care support group; and in a support group organized by Villa Maria. It is helpful for her to connect with others in similar situations, although Marie said she is the lone great grandparent in both groups!<\/p>\n

I asked Marie if she intends to obtain legal custody. She said she attempted to, but Sarah refused (from jail) to sign the consent form. Dad\u2019s whereabouts were unknown at the time. Sometimes Marie worries about either parent \u201ctaking\u201d the boys. She knows they can, too, because they have legal rights.<\/p>\n

Marie said she will continue to do what she is doing \u201cfor as long as it takes\u201d and that she refuses to allow the boys to experience \u201canother let down.\u201d I tell Marie how much I respect her as we walk to the school\u2019s main office, where the boys are waiting to go home with the greatest great grandmother I have ever met.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Marie and I wondered what young children and infants internalize while living with drug addicted parents. What do they see? What do they hear? And how does it affect them later in life?”–Julianne Lockwood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001013,"featured_media":16915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,133,132,352,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aacps_story","category-community_stories","category-employee_stories","category-ppw","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16939,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16902\/revisions\/16939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}