This is an account of my experience, that will hopefully clarify, why I questioned if Craighead County foster children received the gifts that were purchased specifically for them by members of our community.
In 2008 my husband and I decided to sponsor 20 Craighead County DCFS foster children for Christmas. My husband's office all rallied together to help us purchases gifts off Christmas wish lists provided by Craighead County DCFS in Jonesboro. DCFS asked that we spend approximately $100 per child. As DCFS also requested, we purchased and individually wrapped each gift and placed them in bags with the child's name and Christmas wishlist attached to the outside of the bag. We loaded them into my husband's truck and took our 5 children with us to deliver the gifts. We wanted our children to experience the joy of giving and sharing of blessings, especially at Christmas time. After we made many trips to the truck delivering the 20 bags of sorted gifts, we left DCFS without a 'thank you' of any kind. We finally dismissed it as a lack of professionalism and rudeness. We left DCFS with a sinking feeling that no one cared if we had sponsored these children or not.
The following Christmas we finalized our most recent adoption of a then 16 year old child. In his honor that Christmas we decided to sponsor 10 children. We listened as a family as DCFS employees made desperate pleas for volunteers to sponsor children because they were having a difficult time finding sponsors in the economic crisis. I took all 6 of my children shopping and my oldest and I wrapped and sorted all the gifts. After experiencing 4 years of foster care himself before moving into our home, he continually made the statement, "I can't believe you're buying all this stuff." We never got anything off our Christmas wish lists. Sometimes our gifts would be delivered 2 or 3 weeks after Christmas. It was always random stuff like a 'scooby doo hat' or 'lion t-shirt' or something weird. We never got anything like this." I put his statements out of my mind in hopes that maybe his gifts had just 'fallen through the cracks' or his wishlist not sponsored. We loaded all the kids and bags into the truck and delivered them to DCFS, all the while my oldest stating, "they don't care if you buy this stuff or not......they just take home what they want." I told him that, "there is no way that is true because why would they ask that the gifts be wrapped?" When we delivered our gifts we were told to just put them down in the hall. Again, no one said thank you or even asked our names. Again, we left with the sinking feeling that no one really cared if the gifts were ever donated or ever delivered to the needy children.
This Christmas I took only my oldest, now 17 years old, to shop for 2 children we had sponsored as a family, through Craighead County DCFS. I asked all my facebook friends and church members to sponsor a child as well. After calling DCFS to inquire if I needed to find more community members to donate, I was told that all the children had been sponsored this year. What a blessing that was to hear!
We had sponsored a 15 year old boy who resided in a foster home (per the info at the top of the Christmas wishlist provided by DCFS) and a 17 year old boy residing at CYS (Child Youth Services) facility in Jonesboro, AR. We shopped off of the boy's handwritten wishlists, filled out by them. I found it odd that a 15 year old boy, that could ask for anything he wanted, would ask for a jacket and comforter set for a full size bed. However, my oldest stated, "he's probably sharing a room and using a 'hand me down kiddie' bedspread. This brought back memories of shopping with my oldest when he was so excited to pick out decor and bedding for his own new room after he moved into our home. So we purchased a nice jacket, teen comforter set and remote control helicopter (all on his wish list) all from Kohl's in Jonesboro, AR.
We then went to TJ Maxx to shop for the 17 year old boy residing at CYS. He was the same age as my son and asked for everything my son had asked for Christmas. He wanted Ralph Lauren shirts. So I bought him the same things I had bought my own son. We picked out three nice Ralph Lauren pullovers in his size and two packages of Ralph Lauren socks. We also purchased another remote control helicopter at TJ Maxx for him as well to fly around on the CYS basketball courts.
After bringing the gifts home we wrapped and sorted the gifts and attached their names. My son again made the statement, "I NEVER got anything like this!" So I told him that I would take a picture of the gifts and receipts with my phone not sure what I would do with them at that time. We placed the receipts in the gifts, like we had always done in previous years, so that if the child or foster family needed to exchange/ return the gifts they would be able to do so.
That same afternoon I received a phone call from a person who had just dropped off donation items at the Craighead County DCFS offiice. She proceeded to tell me what she had witnessed.
She was dropping of her donations when she heard voices coming from the 'wrapping room.' She walked down and saw two DCFS employees sorting through gifts. After she stood and talked a while one employee began to unwrap gifts and exclaim, "Where is XXXX ever going to wear this? He's going to return to his biological family as soon as he turns 18 years old." Then she unwrapped another of his gifts and stated, "I don't think this is his color." And she then became excited when she realized the gifts also came with the receipt. She placed all his gifts into a pile to be returned. She then grabbed two brownish colored shirts and wrapped them and placed them into a carry bag to be delivered to him. She then grabbed a flash light and batteries, wrapping them and tossing them into the carry bag stating, "he'll need these." This child is a child I have known for many years. He had been placed on my Adoption Coalition Heart Gallery for several years in hopes of being adopted. He was never adopted and decided to enter the ILP (Independent Living Program) and I removed him from the Heart Gallery. I also knew that he resided at CYS and had no siblings there.
At this point, the other DCFS employee in the room, was sorting through gifts on a table and scanning them with her iphone 'tag scanning application' and placing them into piles. After scanning items that had come from TJ Maxx she asked if they should go into the return pile as well. The other employee said, "no just find a child's bag to put them in."
At this point an unknown woman entered the room and the employees were very excited to see her. She carried an empty Bed, Bath and Beyond bag and a gift card wrapped in a return receipt. They asked her how much she got and she said five hundred and something dollars. The employees were very excited and exclaimed, "great!"
Another unknown woman from the community entered the room to deliver her donated gifts. She carried three bags filled with gifts with a child's Christmas wish list attached to the outside of each bag. After the woman left, she witnessed the employees open each gift inside the bag and continue to sort the items and place them into piles. She then realized that there was a Wal Mart box overflowing with what she understood to be return items. At which point she said her goodbyes and left. She then called me from her vehicle crying as she headed home.
The next day I couldn't get the thought out of my mind of our former Heart Gallery child not having what he wanted for his last Christmas in foster care. He would soon turn 18 and be on his own trying to navigate life. I went to Wal Mart and purchased a $193.32 digital camera. I placed the receipt inside the digital camera box and wrapped the gift. I attached his name and CYS to the outside of the gift. I took another photo of my receipt and hoped and prayed that he would receive the gift. I hoped that if he didn't want the digital camera he could return it for an ipod or something else he wanted.
All the gifts were delivered on Monday afternoon, December 20th. On Tuesday, December 28th, I called Walmart to track the TC# (transaction control number) located at the bottom of my original receipt. They then faxed me a copy of a return receipt that had been signed by the same employee unwrapping gifts on December 17th. She had received $193.32 cash for the digital camera return on Wednesday, December 22nd, two days after I had dropped the gifts off at DCFS.
I then called Kohl's to track the number at the bottom of the receipt. I had purchased the Kohl's items for the 15 year old who requested the comforter, jacket and R/C Helicopter. They gave me copies of a return receipt signed by the same employee that had signed for the return at Wal Mart. The return had been made at 6pm on the December 20th, the same day I dropped the gifts off at DCFS. She had been given a gift card for $221.37 since the purchase had been made on a credit card that she couldn't provide. They then gave me copies of the itemized list of what she had purchased with the gift card.
Approximately 1 hour after the return she purchased:
clothing
decorative art
photo frame
2 decorative pillows
boxed calendars
She returned on December 27th and used the remainder of the giftcard to purchase accent furniture.
I then called TJ Maxx to check the number at the bottom of that receipt. The 3 Ralph Lauren shirts, 2 packages of Ralph Lauren socks and R/C helicopter had all been returned on Wednesday, December 22nd by a DCFS caseworker who had signed for the return. She was issued a gift card because again, I had used my credit card and she couldn't provide it for the return. TJ Maxx was able to track the giftcard to show that she had used a portion of the funds 30 minutes after the return. The remainder of the giftcard was spent that evening around 6pm.
On the same day that I discovered that every single item for every single child I had sponsored had been returned I called the police. The next day, Wednesday December 29th, I took my receipts and return receipts with me and gave my account of events to detectives at the police department.
The investigation is currently ongoing and no charges have been made. As is standard practice in my dealings with Arkansas DCFS, they are allowed to operate in a 'shade of gray' and hide behind their 'confidentiality policy and procedures' which usually places them above the law and under the radar of public knoweledge. Never have I known of an agency, person or business that is allowed to use it's 'policy and procedure' manual to operate in this fashion on an as needed basis. I do not expect charges to be made in this case. I expect DCFS to continue to work under their guise of 'confidentiality' until someone can hold them accountable for their actions, departmentally and personally. The statement they have given, "we were trying to 'level the playing field' for siblings does not justify why my three sponsored children didn't receive their appropriate gifts. They had no siblings placed with them, both being at CYS.
I hope that others will take a stand when they see injustice occurring, not turning a blind eye. I have placed myself in the public eye for scrutiny only in hopes that one day every child in foster care will finally have a voice.
Dia Sawyer
1/8/11
