Free I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate by Gay Courter Page B

children had taught me that confused teenagers were the least likely to last long in one foster home. There were a million excuses for dumping them. A caseworker might determine that another child would do better in the home, and move the teen, or the foster parents could change their mind at any point. One call to the caseworker and the child was on the move again. So what other possibilities were there? Lydia was not a bad child. Maybe I could find an idealistic, affectionate family with a spare bedroom.
    Barely containing my enthusiasm, I called Nancy. “Would it be permissible to place Lydia informally with another family?”
    “As long as they did not expect state reimbursement, I don’t see why not. Just remember Lydia has been adjudicated to the Tabernacle Home, so we have to deal with them first. I am supposed to call our friend, Mrs. Shaw, and tell her what rules we are going to stipulate. What should I say?”
    “There’s no reason to capitulate to them, is there?”
    “Absolutely not. It would set a bad precedent.”
    I scribbled a list and recited it. “Initially I want to see Lydia two to three times a month, once outside of the facility, with arrangements beforehand about where and when it will be. The other times I want to see her alone either in a private office or outside on their grounds. I want to be able to call at an appropriate time to make these arrangements and I want her to be permitted to phone me whenever she wishes during her free time. She can call the guardian office collect so it won’t cost them anything. Is that too much to ask?”
    “Not at all. That’s what any other guardian would want.”
    However, despite Nancy’s optimism, Alice Shaw’s response was that she would get back to us with their counterproposal.
    Nancy would not retreat. “I told Mrs. Shaw that since this is court ordered, and not some privilege Lydia has to earn, our points are not negotiable.”
    “How did she react?” I asked.
    “Mrs. Shaw’s voice was icy and very formal, and she said, ‘We’ll have our decision by Wednesday, but I must ask that you warn your guardian to refrain from contacting Lydia before then, for the child’s sake.’ Since I didn’t want Lydia to suffer because of our stance, I agreed.”
    A few hours later the phone rang. “Gay? Nancy. I just had a call from Mona Archibald at HRS. Pastor Shaw called her a few minutes ago and informed her that they will ask Lydia to leave unless we back off from our unreasonable demands.”
    “What should we do?” I asked.
    “You can modify your requirements or …” She drifted off. “Just a moment, Calvin Reynolds from HRS is calling on the other line. You want to hold?”
    “Sure.” I closed my eyes and wished I had turned the case back to Lillian when the religious question was raised. Another guardian more acceptable to the Shaws might have protected Lydia better.
    Nancy was back on the line. “There’s going to be an emergency hearing next Monday to allow the judge to determine whether Lydia will remain in the Tabernacle Home under their rules. That gives us a few more days to find an alternative for Lydia.”
    Here was a challenge I relished. Producing films often brought the same rush, especially when something that had been set up for a long time fell apart at the last minute because of weather or a technical problem or an illness and I had to use all my wiles to save the day by lining up a completely different program. I called several former Guardians ad Litem, the heads of two neighboring programs, the director of a girls’ school upstate, the district manager of several special HRS programs, a few wealthy women in a nearby city who might know someone who would take Lydia in. Then I started on my personal list of contacts. I picked two families, one in our community, one about fifty miles away.
    “I would take her myself,” I told my friends truthfully, “but it is a hard-and-fast rule that guardians may not even bring