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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1978)
Care for kids aged 1-17 THE BATTALION MONDAY, MAY 1, 1978 Page 7 Home shelters needy By ROBIN LINN There is a special house near the |center of downtown Bryan. It looks l®like any other house on the block, in 1 an older neighborhood. It’s a white !two-story with neatly cut yard, sur rounded by trees. It has high ceil ings, creaky stairs, large-paned [■windows, and a personality that Jiewer tract houses don’t seem to have. This house is different from ther houses on the block. It is a ouse for forgotten children. Julie lives in Brazos County. She iias been sexually abused by her lather since she was 9. At 14 she began by talking to friends at school jhat something was very wrong. It Sjothered her. Her grades began to ilrop, and through discussions with her teacher, she finally revealed the Situation at home. Julie was re eved from her home and placed in Jhe special house with other chil dren who had been abused and ne glected. She was given hot meals, Iriendship, and a chance to recover i JIrom her traumatic family life by a program known as Sheltering Arms id a woman known to her as Auntie fiuth. Rev. Warren Barnes, the man re sponsible for the house and the run ning ofTwin City Mission, never in- oduced me to Julie. He says she Jtayed there. In 1977, there were |01 reported deaths from child i abuse in Texas. More than 42,000 Kuspected abuse and neglect cases da ■T ere 8,700 victims of which ‘ ‘had to be removed temporarily from [the home. All but 1,000 were re- med to their homes, the rest were laced in adoptive homes, according to a newsletter published by the Austin headquarters of the Depart- r ent of Human Resources. Sheltering Arms in the form of ^ atl " 1 Wie old house provides a home for iduttifihildren aged 1 to 17. The house is a was tijroduct of concerned citizens in the instem r y an _c 0 ]l e g e Station Area who saw leimaja nee( J f or a shelter for abused, ’d s Abandoned and runaway children, ■udil said Barnes. 1 Before the house was opened in goingfday of 1975, some children spent ilepjAe night in jail because there was j n j f ino other place for them to stay, even (yI though they are not juvenile delin- irstlil uents . If possible, the child was playffilaced in a home of a volunteer fam- • jjlily or a welfare case worker’s home, r 0 f| hp said. [, i Ruth, a product of the 60s ac- e jjuHvism, is an energetic person who b astl ■viysiij In 1977, there were 'fr ■ 101 reported deaths from child abuse in LojpI Texas. tecull : e sectufcminds you of the rhyme about the er as fold woman who lived in a shoe, itch”- Ruth is the housemother, meal- oker, diaper-changer, counselor d friend for all the children who eadii Senter the house. She also takes care outher own two children, 4-year-old ■k w( jjenny and 1-year-old Tiffany. Ruth, vas who is in her thirties, lives with her hat tlftlnldren in the house full time, lies Ruth’s philosophy on children — “If . Al lpu have to take care of two chil- ents! dren, you might as well take care of layiijn.” d era" lat tlr y uil : The shelter has handled more than 200 abused, neglected and runaway children since it opened in 1975. On the average, six children a month stay at the home, but it has housed 33 during the first four months of 1978. The house can handle as many as 13 children at one time. Auntie Ruth (she doesn’t allow them to call her mother) says her main job is helping the child to gain a self-image and build back trust. When they first arrive, they are often distrustful of adults, she says. “It’s like a child who is scared when lost in a supermarket, only much worse,” she said. “They go through the shock of being sepa rated from the parent and no matter how badly abused, they assume the guilt for leaving and want to go back. ” Adjusting to a new environment is hard for the children. Being tucked into bed and given their first good-night kiss helps to relax many of the children. Ruth says some of them climb out of bed and sleep on the floor because it is where they have always slept. But not all the children come from poor families, but the majority do. Julie was given a chance to recover from her traumatic family life by a program known as Sheltering Arms and a woman known to her as Auntie Ruth. Development of the home was a needed step in Brazos County be cause it allows the children to live and talk to children who have come from similar situations, and it helps them get over the feeling of rejec tion by other schoolmates, she says. It is an important intermediate step in the child’s recovery. They can stay there a maximum of 30 days, and then they must return to a fos ter family or their original home if the family situation has improved to the qualifications of the case worker. Sitting in the living room with Tif fany on her knee, surrounded by hanging baskets, Ruth explains the purpose and effect she hopes to produce in the children who come here. “I don’t claim to work miracles —- what I hope to do is create an environment for the children that al lows them to cope,” she said. Often, what is hardest to cure are the un seen scars. Refusing to give love can create a permanent psychological scar. (Tiffany burps her milk on mom’s dress.) Learning to deal with a range of problems is part of the job, she said. As Ruth puts it, this work is a chance for her to channel her past activism into something useful. “In the 60s we spent most of our work screaming from the outside; this job is a chance for me to work within the system,” she said. The housemother enjoys her work. She says it is a part of her. Unlike a nine to five job, she lives it. get pi* a: LOUPOT’S NEEDS USED BOOKS! Loupot can’t sell used books to you unless you sell to him this spring! So bring in your old books and take out some cash! — We pay cash for used books — LOUPOT’S BOOKSTORE Northgate - Across from the Post Office 9 OUT OF 10 PUPPIES PREFER THE BATTALION Children are brought to her at any hour, and the house is open 24 hours a day. People often ask me — why did you get into this work? It’s because I am sure I belong here,” she said. It takes more than saying T love chil dren,’ it goes further than love, it takes a sacrifice on the individual’s part.” Although the house is clean and well painted, funding is always a problem. The program is funded in part by the state, and some help comes from contributors. With in flation and rising utility bills. Rev. Barnes noted that it is often hard to cover costs. He said few contribu tions come from the community. He attributes this to the perception that the government provides adequate funding, not because of community apathy. A donation of $8,000 was willed by a Texas A&M University professor for the development of a permanent foster home. Barnes noted that he would like to start a permanent home provid ing full time foster care for children, instead of sending them to individu al’s homes. He said state laws are moving away from large institutional homes with hundreds of children because the closeness and interac tion children need is lost. Ruth has seen many children come and go in her year as house mother at Sheltering Arms. Do any come back? None have yet. “I just hope someone will remember that their big white house helped to change them. Maybe they will want to help those who are here when they return. I know the memories of the stay here will be good; I make sure they are.” Vance and Dayan clash over fighters By United Press International Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan clashed publicly Sun day over the wisdom of providing two of Israel’s historic Arab enemies with U.S. jet fighters. The two ap peared on separate network pro grams. Vance said the $4.8 billion pack age deal is necessary to maintain U.S. ties to the moderate Arab gov ernments of Egypt and Soudi Arabia. Dayan said the United States is simply supplying arms that can one day be used against Israel. “In any way,” Dayan said, “you would be walking in the Russian shoes in the Middle East, prepar ing. . .the Arab countries for the next war against Israel by supplying them with American warplanes.” But Vance, who urged congres sional approval of the package, views Saudi Arabia as “a force for moderation in the Middle East.” He said the United States has a com mitment to the oil-exporting giant to “meet their needs in this regard. “If we were now not to go forward with that, I think we would se riously jeopardize our relationship, not only with Saudi Arabia, but with the moderate countries in the area as well.” Dayan, interviewed in New York by ABC’s Barbara Walters on “Is sues and Answers,’’ questioned Saudi motives by referring to an interview in a French newspaper 10 days ago that quoted Saudi Crown Prince Fahd as saying his army is not only preparing “to defend the kingdom, but to get involved any where, wherever our national duty requests.” “That is the object of their arming their forces,” Dayan said, “not only to defend Saudi Arabia but to be involved in all of the Arab wars — and one of them might be against Israel.” There has been considerable op position expressed in Congress to the sale of 60 F-15 jet fighters to Saudi Arabia. Other elements of the White House plan call for sale of 75 F-16 and 15 F-15 jet fighters to Is rael and 50 F-5s to Egypt. But there has also been opposi tion to what is seen by some as heavy-handed Israeli interference in the conduct of U.S. business. Dayan defended his position, acknowledging that “as far as you’re concerned, it’s business. But these are killing machines, not washing machines, and who are they going to use those killing machines against?” Interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation” in Washington, Vance said that while President Carter has agreed to permit Congress to ad dress each element of the sale sepa rately, the administration believes the three elements “are reinforcing'*—each one needs the other two. Each house of Congress must, in the next two months, vote the sale down, if it is to be rejected. If only one house votes against the deal, it automatically goes through. Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” two Kennedy and Johnson administration officials, former Sec retary of State Dean Rusk and former Under Secretary of State George Ball, strongly backed the proposed jet sale to Saudi Arabia. “I think it would be a major mis take if we were to deny the F-15s to Saudi Arabia,” said Ball. “I think this is a litmus test of our relation ship with them." jEpiscnpal GLmttt 902 Jersey (adjacent to souths!de of campus) 846-1726 , Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m.: < , Eucharist & Supper Wednesdays 12 noon Bible Study Fridays, 6:30 a.m.: Eucharist & Breakfast Sundays, 6:30 p.m.: Fellowship & Eucharist Fr. James Moore, Chaplain i & “Solid Wood Furniture’ ‘Solid Wood Furniture” High Chairs Solid Wood Reg. $59.88 Now *3988 Through the month of May Unfinished Furniture 314 N. Main 822-7052 Downtown Bryan .amitiunj poo/w Plios, ..ainifujnj poom Plios,, SEIKO Someday all watches will be made this way. 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