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In response to this article, I state the following:
---------- Forwarded message ---------- To: dek@resource.ca.jhu.edu Cc: smd@resource.ca.jhu.edu Date: Fri,
02 Aug 2013 18:45:52 -0600 Subject: The Rise and Demise of the American Orphanage
As late as the 1970's, the State of Texas rented-out orphans as an extremely cheap labor source for local farmers
and other government offices. The kids (I was one of them) were forced to work in farmers cotton fields, hog farms, trash
pick-up, and other menial labor for 12 hours each day, and given little to nothing to eat or drink, and they received none
of the payment for their work. Some kids actually died during these work details. Places like Coastal Bend Youth City (forced
to close in 2003) were funded by the United Way of Coastal Bend, and kids from all over the country were sent there. Most
of them (99%) actually had parents, but the parents were either incarcerated, incapacitated, or unable to care for them financially.
For the orphans placed there (like me), life was horrific. Never once being allowed to visit anyone; no Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Birthdays were not celebrated at Youth City either. I received no medical or dental care while I lived at Youth City. Sexual
abuse and sexual molestation from the staff was rampant. Rape was a constant threat. Beatings were a regular reality. The
local county judge took a personal interest in the young orphan girls such as me; having us taken to his office in the courthouse,
and forcing us to perform sexual acts on him. All the while threatening to send us to the State Orphanage if we didn't cooperate,
which he claimed was far worse than Coastal Bend Youth City. Coastal Bend Youth City offered zero life-skills
training to prepare us for the outside world. As soon as they could, Youth City boxed up our things, and called us to
the office, asking "Do you have anyone you can call?" knowing full well we were orphans with no family. Then they would say
"We're sorry but the government funding we were receiving for you has ended, and you have to go now. I later found out that
Youth City was continuing to receive government funding long after I was kicked out. This funding was meant to help me finish
school and go to college. I can only assume they simply "Forgot to mention this." The way I was treated, and
what I was fed, and how I had to live in run-down cottages; certainly didn't add up as it relates to the amount of money Youth
City received for my care. Several former Directors of Coastal Bend Youth City were later indicted on embezzlement charges
for stealing donations and government funding meant for the care of the children there. I would ask that you look at my website:
http://www.thelostchild.org. It will help shed some additional light on the travesty that was Coastal Bend Youth City. My own House-Parent Ms. Ida Mustain,
originally started her career working at Boy's Town in Harlingen Texas.
To add insult to injury, when I tried to request assistance from Texas regarding the rape, sexual abuse, etc I suffered
at Youth City; they claimed that if I was ever at Youth City, my records were destroyed immediately after I departed. Despite
the records and evidence I kept and maintained myself, Texas officials refused to assist me.
I welcome your thoughts on this sensitive issue. Personally, I don't think that Coastal Bend Youth City was
even remotely similar to the current welfare system that so many people abuse today. It was far, far worse! Best
Regards, Carolyn MacKenney
My exposure to the many Social Services offices and Child Welfare offices throughout the US, shows a
level of dysfunctionality that staggers the imagination. Agencies such as Child Protective Services; Department of Families
and Protective Services and other governmental agencies are full of uneducated, unqualified and inexperienced people, who
are given powers far beyond their skill set. More often than not, they make decisions not based upon a thorough analysis,
or medical diagnosis; but rather through their conscience; simply because they don't know the right thing to do.
A good example of this is the Social Services office in El Paso County Colorado. When my daughter was
strung out on meth, she was told she could choose who her children could go to, during her treatment. Her case-worker Kelly
Benson (uneducated and inexperienced) recommended that she turn her children over to their father (a known drug-dealer and
convicted felon), whom she had recently divorced. Instead of recommending that she give the kids to my husband and I (my husband
is a doctor and I am a child advocate) where they would be loved and cared for; Ms. Benson recommends just the opposite. We
later discovered that Ms. Benson and our daughters ex-husband were romantically involved.
Ms. Benson should never have been allowed to be our daughters case worker, and she should have been prosecuted
for her involvement with a client. Our reports and complaints to Ms. Benson's supervisor went unanswered. This is a true example
of the dysfunctionality of the Social Services system.
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