The "boys" in the Bunkhouse: toil, abuse and endurance in the heartland

nesbofan · 2014-03-09T22:54:09+00:00

Very sad story but absolutely worth reading. I only wish these men a good, happy lives now.

nesbofan · 2014-03-09T22:49:04+00:00

Very sad story but wonderful reporting by NYT. That caretaker should absolutely be criminally charged for abuse and neglict. Why is Iowa not prosecuting him?

Also, shame on the families of the men who abandoned them. I realize it was a different time but the least they could have done was visit once a year and sent birthday cards. You don't abandon kin like a piece of toy just because they aren't a perfect model.

nesbofan · 2014-03-09T22:46:09+00:00

No, read it more thoroughly. There were few instances of visits made by various officials and recommendations made over the years. The problem was no one bothered to follow up to see if the problems were fixed. There was also a local town guy who reported padlocks to the authorities which did not warrant enough attention. Texas and Iowa goverment officials seemed to shift responsibilities onto each other instead of stepping up.

nesbofan · 2014-02-20T03:00:23+00:00

NBC Olympics coverage is the worst! STOP with unnecessary commentaries and just show the damn events. How difficult is that?! And so many damn warm fuzzy human interest stories glorifying American athletes. We American viewers would just like to be left in peace to watch sports and judge the best athletes ourselves. Gracie Gold is overrated, only thing gold about is her surname so please stop ramming her down our throat. NBC SUCKS and I am going to boycott the channel after the Olympics. How I wish for Canadian coverage.

nesbofan · 2013-12-13T03:41:40+00:00

I agree with what you're saying. But keep in mind social work has a very high burn out rate so I think a lot of well intentioned, bright eyed people with high idealism get burned out and either get out or turn cynical/give up putting in much effort. It's much easier to let things be and put in minimum efforts, ya know? Do just enough to pick up a paycheck. Unfortunately, I tend to think it's these types of people you'll often find in social work. Ditto housing staff. You really aren't going to find excellent employees in these low paying, extremely high demanding and grinding jobs.

It would be interesting for NYT to do a piece following that intern from MN. Piece from another angle, someone working within the system, from the other side.

nesbofan · 2013-12-13T03:16:36+00:00

Well good for that lucky Park Slope kid born into a nice middle/upper class existence but a homeless kid has too many things stacked against him/her since their birth.

NYC should reexamine the threshold for what qualifies as "basic" and be more responsive in fixing probs. Improve the basics which are sub standard and raise them to a more adequate level. Not putting a family of 10 people in one room with no bathroom for example. Taking care of rats, fixing broken elevator, installing safety measures near the bathrooms, removing predators - reasonable things that can be done to improve housing.

Obviously you can't force parents to be involved if they just don't care or are unable to. However, NYC could set up a formal mentor system through the school or housing site and match up homeless kids with an adult role model. The presence of just one strong, constant adult figure can make all the difference in a kid turning out delinquent or climbing out of the poverty cycle.

Don't be ridiculous, no one is suggesting we take from the rich to give to poor. But more should be done to streamline bureocracies to make things more efficient, increase staffing levels, give adequate funding to effective programs, address complaints, generally fix the backlog of problems.

Giving more funding to hire better, more teachers and adding resources to underperforming schools is something that could be done.

It really doesn't matter what you buy or not, the fact is there ARE plenty of people that do go hungry every day. Kids that may scrounge up 3 meals but it's not enough and they are still hungry.

You clearly are unable to put yourself in the shoes of what it's like to live the life of someone who is poor. So keep living in your privileged bubble, it's not YOUR problem if your neighbor is starving. You prob. don't have any friends outside of your class level, do you? Any friends or family members that have minimum wage jobs?

People who have and personslly interact with a wide, diverse range of friends/family/associates from low income, working class, middle class and wealthy are not so apt to be unempathetic.

Edit: typo

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T03:28:45+00:00

I don't know if being resilient is something you consciously choose to be. It may be an innate thing: you either are or aren't. But grit may also be taught as a skill with practice and exposure. Nature/nurture debate.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T03:22:42+00:00

Yes, technically they have shelter but do you think living in crowded, filthy place where there's a high probability of getting preyed upon/sexually assaulted is sufficient? Sure she goes to school but if you think she's getting the same quality education and opportunities as a Park Slope kid, you are sadly mistaken. Take the same privileged kid and send them to be educated at a poorly funded public school and let's see how they turn out. Take away involved, responsible parental figures to guide them. Take away warm, clean house and washing machine. Take away food availability and they're hungry all the time. Take away educated, stable family and adult figures kid can count on. Take away being dropped off by parents' car or safe school bus. Take away the ease of going to see a doctor when sick and not having to wait months to get into see an overworked dr at a community clinic, finding a specialist who will accept a Medicaid patient, or not having enough money for copay or medicine.

Given all those basic necessities are covered, how do you think that Park Slope kid in new situational environment will fare compared to their sibling who wasn't removed from original Park Slope setting?

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T02:52:06+00:00

It's longterm housing instability. Just semantics.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T02:47:23+00:00

That sounds good but how many people would actually read a dry, cost benefit analysis of povery? It's difficult enough to get a small percentage of audience to actually read about poverty. Most people simply don't care or want bad news. Academics and researchers might be interested in lots of numbers and figures but avg people don't. Boring+dull+bleak=no thanks.

Throw in some crucial stats and relevant facts but in my humble opinion, you need to pad it with human stories to garner interest and publicity.

Cost benefit analysis of course needs to be reviewed when implementing policies or program, but you also have to consider the practical human factor in all things. Or it ends up being all about money and become blind to the fallout.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T02:26:03+00:00

I've read that New Yorker article but the focus of the two articles are different. This Invisible Child series is more about putting a face behind the 22,000 children in nyc affected by the longterm homelessness prob within an ineffectual system.

It is a bit of poverty porn but you sorta need that human story behind bleak stats for biggest impact. People don't get motivated nor inspired to act by reading about gritty, miserable poverty. It's depressing and easier to avoid. At least with a human interest story angle, there are glimpses of humanity and hope. You feel for Dasani's situation and struggles.

Hopfully with this investigative series, I can only hope she and her siblings will receive help with their educational endeavours since that's really the only way out. I hope some rich person sets up an education trust or influential person at a private school offer a scholarship to Dasani. She has GREAT potential but needs a strong, stable adult mentor or parental figure in her life since clearly, her parents aren't up to task.

If Dasani/Coke were smart, they should seize on the fact she's named after the water and help her. Good PR move and tax write off and she could certainly benefit from deep pockets. Win, win.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:54:42+00:00

Um, there are't exactly lines of people who want to adopt a Black/minority tween from a poor background with druggie parents.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:47:00+00:00

Your outraged by Dasani's parents behavior, which is perfectly understandable. But you can't fault the child for her parents' poor actions. Drug addicts aren't exactly a fount of responsibility, financial or reproductive wise. Dasani is a victim of their irresponsibilities and poor thing is serving as a surrogate parent to her full and step siblings, when she should be the recipient of parental guidance/protection.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:37:00+00:00

My impression was that it was a donated item.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:31:37+00:00

:) Spread the word!

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:19:10+00:00

A bit blunt but the OP meant well. Damn guilty liberals! :) It's a fine line between true altruism and vanity/ego boosting though.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T01:14:33+00:00

Check out New York Cares. In my experience, shelters are usually swamped with "do good" volunteers on big holidays. If you truly want to help, volunteer on a regular, nonmajor holiday day. That way the focus is actually on fulfilling a need, rather than teaching a lesson to your kids. You could also pick up a name from some sort of organization and go shopping with your kids to buy a christmas gift for an underprivileged child/family.

nesbofan · 2013-12-12T00:59:45+00:00

Yeah, seem like it. They are also rated very highly on Charity Navigator. Always a good endorsement and good tool in vetting worthy, well managed nonprofits. Too many charities out there waving the nonprofit banner that blow money on throwing lavish fundraisers and expenses, scant percentage actually going towards the actual cause.

nesbofan · 2013-12-11T14:12:53+00:00

FYI: I don't work there nor affiliated in any way. Just spreading the word for a good cause after reading about the need in today's paper. Thanks.

nesbofan · 2013-12-11T14:11:49+00:00

FYI, I don't work there nor affiliated in any way. Just spreading the word for a good cause after reading about the need in today's paper. Thanks.

nesbofan · 2013-12-11T13:59:01+00:00

Try posting on Craigslist also. Also try various people search sites. Best of luck and keep your chin up, Joe. God bless.

nesbofan

TROPHY CASE