Picture the Homeless

Paula Brown

My name is Paula Brown, I came into the DHS system for the first time 4/9/05. I have been found ineligible five times to date (6/15/05). The most outrageous blow of this whole ordeal, since my arrival in April, was when I went to my first fair hearing with the state. DHS noted that my cousin said that although he had room for eight people, we (my son and I) could not stay there. My cousin would not allow the investigator into the house. My cousin does not have room for eight people. That was a lie. But I was denied on that basis, and have been ever since. How can you be expected to go back to someone’s house after they’ve told you that you are not welcome? How can you be told to go back when the owner bars the door?

Although my son’s grades were average, he was passing and struggling to graduate high school in June of this year (2005). After having to stay in the EAU, the lights dimmed on graduation. My son’s school is in Brooklyn, from the EAU in the Bronx, he could never be on time for the first three of his classes. Busses from “overnight” get back to EAU between 7:30- 900am. My son would have to leave to EAU at 6:00 am to be on time for school. The ride to his school in Brooklyn encompasses three different train rides from the Bronx EAU. He could no longer partake of his after school tutoring program, because of the need to be back in time for overnight call (for fear of log-out). These circumstances have caused my son (18 y.o.) now to pursue a GED.