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04/15/2011 7:53:00 AM
For the people interested in knowing John's whereabouts, I found another article:
http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=john%20kyzer&search_country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fosteringmediaconnections.org%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D410§ion=blog&wrt_id=262
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04/15/2011 3:45:00 AM
The "accused" should be fired. Now. Awful creature.
This boy, John, he was very handsome. If he knew how to take care of himself, he could have been a model.
I hope he is still working now and raising his child.
Mr Heimpel should do a follow-up with Karina, John and Doonie to see how their lives changed. I hope all of them are doing great
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Lori Herrington 09/27/2009 1:31:00 AM
I have seldom been touched by an article in the LA Weekly, as I have been by your piece on John Kyzer. I had such hope for John reading the last paragraph, expressing his feelings and taking responsibility for his actions...until I read the addendum. 'Oh shit!' I thought, McDonald's and a pregnant girlfriend.
As I have pondered my own experiences and life after foster care (in Vancouver, Canada) these past weeks, I have come to the conclusion that I still have hope for John.
I hope he can truly love his children and be there for them in whatever way he can manage, and not give up on them, ever. I struggle with feelings of abandoning my children when I am overwhelmed by life, even though I love them fiercely and I know I will be there for them no matter the circumstances. I see (now) that it comes from years of feeling unwanted, and I navigate my way through these feelings the best that I can. I am much older than John, so again I hope he finds his way through his feelings sooner than I have.
I also hope for John that he finds a way to accept and love himself. There is no one person or thing on this planet that will be able to 'fill up' the void inside that has been created by the abandonment of our parents, and then the foster care system. We really are left to ourselves in that respect.
I wish you well in your life journey John.
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Jeanette Yoffe 09/23/2009 10:21:00 PM
Great article. It touched me. I am a foster youth from Long Island, New York and was very lucky to be adopted at age 7 1/2. Very lucky! And now I work as a psychotherapist with foster and adopted children in Los Angeles. Please visit my website at www.jeanetteyoffe.com to find out more about me. I would be VERY interested in any future articles you write, as to be interviewed or to share my story. November is National Adoption Month. Thank you for all that you do. You seem very passionate about foster care issues!
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richard gilbert 09/20/2009 11:58:00 AM
This story is full of bull, I now the system and I know Los Angeles. John fell victim to a gang that used that fact that he was a foster child to steal everything out of his foster mother house. You paint his foster mother as evil, yet look at the case of the white college professor who was pimping out a five year old boy on craigslist. Then consider how many truly abusive foster parents there are. John and his brother problems comes from the fact that there let there so called friends use and abuse them and not there foster mother. How can you let someone rob the place where you live and ask yourself would you let your own flesh and blood stay with you after the helped there friends clean out your house. But I guess because his foster mother was black its okay to paint her as a monster who did not care for a boy she raised for 14 years. I bet the same group of friends who talked John into robbing his foster mother was the same group of friends who help his brother rob the 99 cents store. Its not the social worker in it for the money its the county. Every child the snatch is worth 30,000 which is good incentive to lie. My daughter was taken by the county because a social worker lied and said that my girlfriend had slashed her brothers throat. At the Edelman Courthouse I was not allowed to have my counsel present. I was not allowed a trial and if I ask for one judge Margaret S. Henry called my schwatze and threatening to have the deputies shoot my daughter. The social workers know that 80 percent of the children that are taken should not have been put into the system at all and 75 percent of these children will never see their parents again. I hope that God smites the children of every social worker and everyone else who earns there paychecks buy stealing children. These judges can not be bothered to hear these cases, no validity is necessary for the claims theses social workers make and the lie just like the cops in the Herb Goonzalez case. I hope that the president will fix this racist system that poses as a child protective agency and that the LAWEEKLY will not do what the LA times is doing but investigate DCFS and not print friendly pieces that gloss over the evil that DCFS is taking kids based on know evidence. If John natural parents were really that screwed up on drugs then they should have been put in jail for beating the kids. If they refused to clean up after themselves then the should have been sent to a mental hospital. But that didn't happen nor did John parents get custody of their children when they became clean. Its the county who is after the money and dcfs like the pentagon is a waste of money but to many rich fat cats are feeding at the trough of human misery. The only abuse John foster mother is accused of is hitting him with a shoe and that is abuse in the eyes of this reporter. The system wont change until the social workers and the police will stop lying and they have no incentive until these crooked judges are removed from the bench. The problem is that the judges are not accountable and every judge is like Joyce Karlin, none of the judges in this Califronia are worth the bribe they take and most of them put on KKK robes after the leave the courthouse. But I have faith in the knowledge that the evil that they do will follow them not only in this life but into the next.
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sorrycan'thelp 09/18/2009 10:09:00 AM
I already wanted to be a foster parent and with this story the need for loving, caring families to take these kids in is so compelling. The problem for my family is that we have 2 small kids that go to preK 3 and 4 days a week. This is because we value education and a headstart, whatever advantage we can give our children. The costs for just the 3 days for my little girl is $650/monthly. I could not even send a foster child to preK on the amount offered. I don't mind providing the clothes and food out of our income but atleast $650 for preK would be necessary.
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Scott 09/17/2009 7:54:00 PM
A very personal and moving story. Those stats are staggering and seem over-whelming, but you also offer ways for us to help, to get involved, and make a difference. A great story.
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Thomas 09/16/2009 7:43:00 PM
In the 8 yrs I was in foster care I never seen a social worker, My caregiver would attack me with closed fist the system may be designed to work on paper, but in real life it works another. How many childern are missing in the system? Lost? Unaccounted for? When I turned 18 By the start of june I was told to get out they where no longer getting a check for me
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KLO 09/16/2009 8:20:00 AM
I am a therapist who works with adolescents and young adults in LA. I work with young women and men who have been raised in the foster care system in LA County. I have also worked with adolescents in LA county juvenile hall. I would like to point out that not all children raised in the foster care system set up their foster mother to be robbed by his friends,lose a job by not showing up, impregnate another teen, abandon their child, and impregnate another. Unfortunately, John has not been able or willing to make good use of the resources that DCFS has made for foster care children such as ILP( a program that assists emancipated foster youth live independently while working or attending college/vocation school). His case was not closed just because he turned 18. Perhaps his CSW could have been more senstive to his desire to be placed at a private home but perhaps his antisocial behavior is why he was placed at treatment facility. Perhaps he could have been give a ticket for not paying bus fare vs. spending time in county jail. Perhaps John could have made different decisions as well. His failings are not the solely the responsibilty of LA DCFS. Certainly the neglect and abuse he suffered while living with his bio-parents and foster parent impacted him deeply. I do hope that he is able to engage in therapy at some point to assist him with resolving the trauma he has endured and make better decisions for himself and his children.
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Jessica 09/15/2009 9:12:00 AM
This is another typical journalistic article that paints an overly simplistic portrait of the issues surrounding children who age out of foster care. The author predictably and unhelpfully paints the government as the oppressor and the subject of the article as a innocent victim, devoid of any responsibility. The truth is always more nuanced that that. For example, this article gives the false impression that children in foster care are automatically booted out of the system when they turn 18. That is absolutely not the case and there is no judge in the state who would close a foster youth's case if the youth continued to desire services and was benefiting from those services. The truth is that a youth can continue to receive services from social services, including having all their expenses paid for (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, health care, dental care, etc.), until they reach 21 years of age. Of course, once a child turns 18, as an adult, they have the right to refuse further services from the government social services agency and have their case closed if they wish, even if they are unprepared for adulthood. Furthermore, every child is assigned a court appointed attorney, an independent advocate whose responsibility it is to to advocate for the client, which is another mechanism in place to ensure a youth is being treated fairly and that his or her legal rights are being respected. However, even if the attorney thinks it is in the client's best interest to keep their case open, ultimately the decision rests solely on the client, and the court and social services cannot force a child to continue to accept services and keep their cases open. Poor youth decisionmaking and resistance to services (understandable given the unfortunate cards they were dealt by abusive/neglecful parents) by foster care youth is a primary reason so many of these kids wind up homeless. Let's quit blaming "the system" and focus on our collective responsibility in finding ways to help these youth successfully transition to adulthood, for example, by volunteering a few hours a month as mentors.
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thomas 09/15/2009 12:27:00 AM
I dont agree with the stats I think it's a lot higher then 1/4 ends up in jail I am a product of the foster system.You live in a home where the people dont want you there dont talk to you. Your living in a place that preping you for prison no one to talk to to tell how the day went no help if you have a problem at school I got 1 pair of cheap jcpenny brand shoes a year that wore out in 3 months when I made it to high school I just could bare the teasing any more and droped out. Where was the social worker Mmmm let's do the math 1 worker a case load of about 200 kids that you have to see in a 40 wk not count paper work or the time that it take to find place for new kids or sexual abuse problems in current homes and that not counting the gay or disable who are place in differnt homes the rapes by caregivers and other kids.
BOTTOM LINE THE SYSTEM IS NOT ONLY BROKEN BUT SHATTERED IT WAS THE WORST YEARS OF MY LIFE
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Bill 09/14/2009 10:43:00 PM
This important, and sadly not unique, story highlights many of the problems with the foster care system. The solutions are not simple. One important key is the certification of foster parents. Counties often certify anybody who is willing to house a child in exchange for a few hundred dollars a month. They are too overloaded to be selective, even in the best counties. Many private non-profit agencies don't do much better. A few agencies really do look out for the best interests of the children, and will opt to not certify some new applicants, or to de-certify an existing home that fails to measure up to certain standards. The problem we have found is that there is no shortage of other agencies with lower standards who are quick to take in the families we reject, so there is no net gain. I have worked with many families who would care for these children for free, if they could. Unfortunately, those families are a minority.
It is not all about the money, but money is a necessity in providing excellent care. A few months ago a federal court ruled that the State of California was guilty of under-funding foster care. More recently, the current State budget implements a 10% CUT in foster care rates. You can expect an overall decline in the quantity and quality of foster homes, and more stories like this one.
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Cheri 09/14/2009 10:27:00 PM
I found this article during a Twitter search. Very nice and well-written article. I want everyone to know that not all foster care organizations are inept at taking care of their children. There is one organization in Michigan, Orchards Children's Services (the largest foster care/adoption agency in Michigan) that does a wonderful job in preventing children from being taken from their homes in the first place. They offer extensive family preservation programs. For children who do end up in foster care, Orchards offers a variety of programs including Career Connections. Check out their website at: www.orchards.org.
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Nancy 09/14/2009 8:52:00 PM
This article helped illustrate the enormous challenges faced by DCFS and children in the foster care system, and I'm glad to see that Mr. Heimpel highlights the problem of successfully emancipating youth from the system.
I wanted to note that The Alliance for Children's Rights http://www.kids-alliance.org/ is a non-profit legal services organization that among other services provides mentoring to emancipating youth and also helps youth seeking housing and benefits as they transition out of the system.
They also help transitioning youth expunge minor criminal records, and all of their services are free of charge.
Hope this helps someone out there.
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Jennifer 09/14/2009 8:43:00 AM
Great article. Our joke of a foster care system needs immediate overhaul, though I don't pretend to know how to do that. It's disgraceful what happens to these kids.
I volunteer with an incredibly amazing organization called StandUp For Kids that helps homeless and street kids. A vast majority of our kids are victims of the foster care system failures. Most of us couldn't stand one night on the street and yet a lot of these kids feel it's their best option. Within 48 hours, 42% of the kids have had to resort to prostitution to survive.
Private citizens need to come forward and say "Enough." Clearly no county or any government agency knows what to do with these kids. It's time for society to stand up and no longer expect other people to do right by these kids.
I encourage people to do some research on the many charities out there that are trying their best to reach these children. There are some people that do care and are fed up. Please join us.
Mr. Heimpel, thank you for this article and please continue to report these heart-breaking stories as not enough people are aware of how many children are falling through the cracks.
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Educator turned social worker 09/13/2009 9:49:00 AM
As one of John's and Karina's former teachers, this article hit home a bit too closely. The dialogue is appreciated, and all have valid points. I agree that it is too simplistic to blame any one agency, DCFS, family, schools, and foster parents etc. All systems are inadequate in their own respect. John was one of the smartest students to walk through my doors, which is no surprise, but he was also one of the most emotionally damaged, and angry adolescent I've had in my classroom too. He was a result of his surroundings, his parents failure, society, and schools are to blame. It's too easy to give up on these individuals, the youth that need strong, loving adults the most. It is much easier to close the doors on them, send them off to another institution to ultimately fend for themselves.
I appreciate the author's acknowledgement of the attachment John was fortunate to experience with Karina. It is unfortunate for Karina she is now left to raise a son without a father. Karina against all better judgment, friends advice, teacher advice took a chance on John and fell in love. She fell hard. She now has to deal with the hard lessons of life and love and be strong for her son. A strong, young woman is what Karina is. She was pregnant when she graduated, we all as school community worked together along with family to support her and encourage her to succeed, for herself as well as for her son. She unlike John was successful.
However, unlike John she had a constant, loving, supportive family to help. Attachment is key. Unconditional love is vital when working with these adolescents. You can not give up. It is not easy at any level of society, which is why it is so easy to give up.
Although John lacked attachment with his birth mother, I am hopeful one day he will repair, find love for himself and be the supportive father that I am sure deep down he wants to be.
I encourage readers to avoid blaming the public servants, the teachers, the social workers, that really do try to be positive support for foster youth and children in general. This type of thinking doesn't get to the root of the problem, it doesn't look at the big picture. LA times has done a great job in attacking teachers, social workers, and now nurses??? Why??? We need to look at funding, tax dollars, essentially the way the dominant society values
disenfranchised youth, or the lack of.
I left the classroom to be a social worker for this very reason. It was so difficult trying to educate when basic emotional and safety needs continue to go unmet for students like John. I feel as a social worker I will be able to advocate, mentor, and support more effectively then I could as a teacher.
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Lg 09/13/2009 6:22:00 AM
Time and time again we are provided with sad stories that "blame the system". I am fairly certain John was likely to be dealing with substance abuse issues which further contributed to his negative behavior. Has anyone asked this question? Seems to me John needs to confront his demons and begin the process to achieving his potential.
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Daniel Heimpel 09/13/2009 6:15:00 AM
Dear The Accused,
There are many amazing social workers and I understand the difficulties you face. I am sorry if you felt my story attacked yourself and your colleagues. The reality is that I have the utmost respect for social workers in general and believe that they should be supported more. That being said the system does allow some social workers to go astray, which is harmful to kids and in kind harmful to society.
But yes it does take a village and it isn't all DCFS' fault at all. We as a society have turned our backs to many of these children because we think it is too hard to get involved. I agree it is time we stand up and make these kids our priority. After all they are our collective children.
Thank You for your sacrifice. You are a real hero.
-Daniel Heimpel
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Daniel Heimpel 09/13/2009 6:11:00 AM
Dear The Accused,
There are many amazing social workers and I understand the difficulties you face. I am sorry if you felt my story attacked yourself and your colleagues. The reality is that I have the utmost respect for social workers and believe that they should be supported more.
And yes it does take a village and it isn't all DCFS' fault at all. We as a society have turned our backs to many of these children because we think it is too hard to get involved. I agree it is time we stand up and make these kids our priority. After all they are our collective children.
Thank You for your sacrifice. You are a real hero.
-Daniel Heimpel
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J. Katz 09/13/2009 3:42:00 AM
Heart breaking!!
Kudos to Mr. Heimpel for getting involved and doing his best to help John and for having the courage to present John's story in an objective manner.
I don't know how a private citizen can help. You would think attempting young lives to be "saved" would be a top concern of all government agencies. But apparently, this major problem is not a priority of the City of LA. Too many incompetent, non-caring individuals in positions of authority - from the very top all the way down.
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The Accused 09/13/2009 3:16:00 AM
I've been a social worker in LA County for just over 9 years. I am now a Supervisor in the Emergency Response section. We are the first responders. While I appreciate the story and it really breaks my heart, it seems all I ever read about DCFS is negative press. Reading articles like these both make me wonder why and remind me why I do what I do. The children are always my focus and should be everyone's focus. As in any field, there are bound to be some employees that are less than exemplary. However, those seem to be the only ones who have their stories told by the press. Many of you will never know the HUNDREDS of tasks ONE social worker has on any ONE given day for every ONE child. I had the privilege of being one child's social worker for 6 tumultuous years before she emancipated (with a Green Card, enrolled in a vocational school, with a job, and pregnant). She ran from countless foster homes (from one county to the next), had several social workers, did drugs, drank, skipped school, was depressed, and rarely let me help her. She looked at me on that last day and said....you are the closest thing I've ever had to a mother. Try that on for size. It crushed me. Her mother abandoned her after they escaped the violence of El Salvador when she was just 7. It shouldn't have been me. Her family failed her, not the system. Truth be told-There are not enough workers, time, money, and now more than ever, there are not enough resources to meet the needs of every child. It's not for our lack of wanting these children to succeed. I'm not desensitized, but I will say that I had to make a decision a very long time ago. It happened on the first night I ever detained a child...a newborn. I had to detain that first child from a drug using mother who had me chase her all the way to a Ventura County hospital in order to reach her. She threatened to kill me and I had to be protected by police. That's standard. I expect that anyone would feel that strongly about their child, but it's the same person on the other end deflecting all that hate. I cried that night, all night and made the decision to stay in Child Services for that baby. I work 10-12 hour days (of my own accord) with no overtime (or lunch sometimes) to make sure I am doing everything I can do to assure child safety. The disheartening thing is you will always be there to say it isn't enough and the truth is...it never will be. We need help. The term "It takes a village" is always mentioned when discussing the raising of a child. I got some news for you...DCFS is not the only resident of that village. Everyone should start taking some responsibility. So, I hope the next time someone points the finger, it depicts the details of the BIGGER picture and that it includes ALL the families, people, bureaucracies, systems, and communities who failed him. People, stand up.
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john 09/13/2009 12:42:00 AM
as the child of an amazing woman who has fostered 45 children, most of them medically fragile, i take offense at comments like "many parents take in kids for the right reasons. But many are in it for little more than the money." While there may be a small number of parents out there who abuse the system, leaving this vague "many do/many don't" dichotomy is absurd. Sure, at the end of the month, after all the expense related to raising a child, there is occasionally a little money left, but my mother (who has now basically become a nurse) could make far more money by getting a traditional job, and she wouldn't have to basically be on call 24 hours a day. Foster Care is usually a thankless job, and attacks like this without giving equal time to the positive stories are not only disappointing, but irresponsible.
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Daniel 09/12/2009 10:29:00 PM
I appreciate all the comments thus far. One of the most important pieces to the puzzle as we move forward is Fostering Connections to Success, which makes well-being for foster kids law. Please see my blog on the subject here:
http://dheimpel.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/well-being-as-the-goal/
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QuoterGal 09/12/2009 6:47:00 AM
Dylan is a former neighbor of ours and a friend, with the patience of Job, an enormous heart and the will & smarts to do almost anything she sets her mind to (visit http://www.hollywood-arts.org/ to see her youth arts organization and the good work she & her folks are doing). Our broken system failed John and frustrated Dylan, and will not be easily fixed.
This is an accurate and well-told tale by Mr. Heimpel and thanks to him for telling it. With California's budget problems and defective state government (& gubernator) improvements in the system will not come anytime soon, and they won't happen without the public's involvement.
To begin with, we need to push for faster CA implementation of Fostering Connections - Federal money freed up for reforms that we've put off implementing on the state level until 2011. There are groups we can support, like www.ccainstitute.org or http://www.abanet.org/child/ and others).
We also need to give a shit that kids like John are being thrown away and that people like Dylan who want to help them are discouraged by the very system that ought to be helping them.
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gunshowsigns 09/11/2009 10:54:00 PM
So now you want us back well boot the funny boys, feminists, reverse the illegal abortion ruling, start collect taxes on cash only transactions, enforce border laws, make everyone speak the world language (english), have illegals pay for their citizenship process (and back taxes), reverse the fed labor code which lets domestic techies get fired for overseas techies (wiki H1b visa, which Rep Schiff a labor dem refuses to eliminate), get the current LA Mayor to enforce all laws for everyone not just latinos, pass the amendment to make a parttime legislature, boot the porn industry for wasting productive time at work, make LA city council members on the same pay rate as Pasadena, stop teaching gay sex in LA/CA schools,......... So maybe you better stick with the fatherless families or gay families or feminist led families.
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pUZZLED 09/11/2009 3:49:00 PM
Great Story.Although, it's very sad to see that our system fails our kids on a daily basis.We then turn around and blame these kids for all the violence happening out in the streets, but is it them we have to blame, or the desensitized state employees that are suppose to be helping them in the first place.
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Bea 09/11/2009 10:40:00 AM
Very interesting, and touching story; it points out the limits of our system, and how the cycle goes on... sadly.
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Alex R. Ruiz 09/11/2009 10:32:00 AM
I myself am a former child of the system and 20 years later, it still has a profound impact on my life. It took equal parts hard work and luck to make something of my life after striking out on my own. But I know that not all systems kids are that fortunate and it is heart breaking. I get frustrated sometimes that it seems that a majority of Americans aren�t even aware of what these kids endure.
Last year, I started a donation drive on my blog (http://www.theswgeek.com/design-for-the-future) to help raise money for the Orangewood Children�s Foundation (http://www.orangewoodfoundation.org/). They are in Orange and they help these kids after they are emancipated.
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Dylan Kendall 09/11/2009 7:27:00 AM
Thank you Daniel for writing this and being in our lives during the good and bad times. I am John's former foster mother. I met him, as the article states, during a program my nonprofit ran at a group home.
The system for kids like John is tragically damaged. I fought it for months to even get John. I had to go to Children's Court 6 times to overrule the Departments decision to not place him with me and instead, leave him at Phoenix House, a lock-down facility. During the time I was at court, his CSW moved John 5 times to group homes farther and farther away to keep me away from him. I drove over hours to see him once a week to most of the group homes. His CSW didn't want to do the work of putting him in a placement (my home) because she believed John was a bad kid. She forbid me from seeing him after I moved him out even though I told her I wanted to still stay in his life. We used to sneak call each other through one of his good friends because the Hollywood group home was told I wasn't allowed to talk to him. She threatened to have me removed from court even though he walked the miles from Twin Towers upon release to my home and I gave him clean clothes months after he moved out. They should welcome adults who don't give up no matter how hard it is (and it got very hard as many of you know).
I am still active in John's son Adrian's life and see him every week or two (he was conceived when John lived with me- you'll read about this in the article). I helped his mother, Karina (now 20) and her sister get into Pasadena City College. Karina and I talk at length about John and she is sad he isn't around to see his son grow up. At the conclusion of the article you'll read that John's new girlfriend, a 17 year old, is pregnant. Adrian just turned 1 last week.
Many of our students at Hollywood Arts have histories like John. We are working hard both to help them believe in themselves against all odds and get an education. Thank you. (and yes, I still talk to John when he calls me from wherever he is- through this article and Daniel, we always try to find John. I am committed to his son. The cycle needs to stop.
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Julia 09/11/2009 4:01:00 AM
Uh, hell-looo DCFS? Is CSW Ealey-Tutt still working for the County???? Because it sounds to me like she needs to be fired.
You've got a record here of complete cynical disregard for the children she's supposed to be protecting.
I demand that you do something about this bad employee.
Director Ploehn??? Are you listening?
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Nadia 09/10/2009 11:04:00 PM
Important story. Well written.
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Stephen 09/10/2009 2:51:00 PM
Great article. Tragic story. Stay on it.
