“My retarded sister is going to be homeless by the end of the week and no one will help me,” the young woman said.
Sandra Price of Loving Hands and FiA called me and said we had to do something. I spoke to Rebecca’s sister who explained that she had an IQ of 70 and petit mal seizures fairly well controlled by meds. “She can’t work but Social Security turned her down. We don’t know why. We got her a driver’s license at age 27 but three wrecks later decided that was a bad idea. She can’t cook except in a microwave she has no hand eye coordination.”
Rebecca’s husband divorced her, DFACS took her two children and gave them to her sister, and her mother was unable to take her in. So mother and sister placed her at a hotel but they were almost out of money.
I called the local mental retardation association and an extremely kind lady said she was sorry but they had no funding. She gave me another number and the person who answered said to call a different number.
This happened four times. Finally I got to a human being with the goverment who listened sympathetically. Then she said: “we will assign a caseworker.”
But what could the government do to save a retarded young woman from being homeless in the next 72 hours, I asked.
“Nothing.” She said. “There is nothing we can do.”
Part Two To Follow……
