How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Charlomane and Prince Leonard were doing just fine before the recession hit. But for the past three years, they've been forced to live with their six children in a self-storage unit in northeast Houston -- a situation that they reluctantly accepted until Texas's Child Protective Services came in and took custody of their children this week.

The storage unit that the Leonards have been living in is fully equipped with air conditioning, beds, a refrigerator, microwave, a tub and two computers. What they don't have is running water -- which was part of the reason the CPS came in and removed the children, ages 2 to 12. They kept their water in a 55-gallon drum that Prince Leonard refilled daily. They fill jugs of drinking water at grocery stores and use a "compost" toilet, Charlomane Leonard said.

The only crime Charlomane Leonard is guilty of, she says, is having fallen on hard times. Her husband recently graduated from community college and has been certified as a welder. And before the recession hit, they earned enough money to buy 50 acres in Liberty County, on which they hope to build a house. "We're waiting on a USDA loan," she said.

The family's fortunes turned when Prince Leonard was injured on the job and unable to work for a period. They stopped being able to afford their rent and took to living in their pickup truck for a while, parking in the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital overnight under the watchful eye of security guards. They moved into a Star of Hope shelter for three months before moving into the storage unit where they were already storing some of their belongings.

The Leonards have transformed the storage space into a home -- a place that is nicer and safer than the rodent- and crime-infested motels and apartments the family had lived in before discovering the storage facility as a way to weather the recession. Charlomane Leonard and the children plant a garden every summer on land behind the storage facility, harvesting squash, tomatoes, okra and peppers. The older children are enrolled at Texas Connections Academy, a Houston Independent School District on-line school. One of their computers is on loan from the school and none of their children has ever gotten less than a B in school, the couple said.

Houston Family Living in Storage Unit Loses Custody of Kids | AOL Real Estate

They do get to see their children 6 hours a week, however. Which doesn't give the mom nearly enough time to continue nursing the youngest, of course, but who cares, right?

Now I don't know if there's more to this story or not....I certainly hope there is because this does not sound like a family which should have lost custody of it's children.

It sounds like a family who's fallen on hard times, through no fault of their own, who is trying very hard to do all the right things and keep body and soul together while attempting to better themselves through hard work, perseverance, and further education.

Definitely something to lose your children over in Texas, I'm sure.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

I'm reminded of the CPS episode on King of the Hill.

That's too bad. The state needs to butt out.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Stupid move by the State of Texas, according to the article the children were not in any danger.. the best place for kids in that situation is in their home.

Now the state has incurred unnecessary costs... it would have been better if they diverted the funds that they are paying to keep the kids in substitute care, toward helping them rent an apartment.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Do three things and one's chances of being poor are less than one percent:

1) Get married and stay married;
2) Work a job, any job, for at least a year;
3) Graduate from high school.

I've got the order wrong but the truth right.

People are poor because of behavior.

I have a dishwater friend who works his tail off (two full-time jobs), he's from Latin America, and he owns two houses, one free and clear, the other on a five-year mortgage. His English is pitiful--we communicate in Spanglish--but his heart is big.

Anyone can do it. But few do.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Why did they buy 50 acres of land without the money to to anything further. Foolish people. I feel bad for sure, but somehow Texas is to blame for this? Plus, this happens in every state, but since Texas is eeeeeeeeeeeeevil, well, you get the point.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

But this family has DONE all those things. They ARE married. The husband DOES work. He's not only graduated from high school, he's just finished college.

Sometimes people are poor because of illness. Or accidents. Or because they're 16 years old and they've been thrown out of their parent's house. Or because a fire destroyed everything they owned. Or because a hurricane hit. Or because they were victims of a rape or a crime. Or because they saved their money all their life and when they got old their children stole it from them.

Or don't those things happen in your world?

Honestly, I just don't understand this kind of attitude. I really don't. Is your life that isolated that you just really have no idea of the tragedies which befall people on a regular basis? Is your imagination so limited that you cannot even begin to fathom that sometimes things happen to people which they have no control over?

We had a patient who came into the ER regularily years ago. Nice looking young dude - I believe he was in his early 20s when I first met him. He was a paraplegic in a chair. No bowel or bladder control. Lived alone. He'd been a college student in Gary, In. and had been shot in the spine in a drive-by. He was not a gang member, he wasn't anything other than a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. His family was poor, they either couldn't or wouldn't take care of him....and so he lived on the street. In his wheelchair, with his catheter and his diapers. When he was well (which wasn't often since even well-cared for paraplegics have numerous infections and health problems) he'd visit local high schools and talk about the importance of education and staying out of trouble - and advising kids to stay out of the wrong places at the wrong times. When he was sick, which was often, the police would find him in his usual hidey-hole and bring him to us.

He was a proud man - he asked nothing of anyone. He wanted nothing from anyone. He didn't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare or welfare of any sort because in order to get those things you have to have a permanent address - and in order to get a permanent address you have to have a check. No shelter would take him because of his condition. No hospital would keep him because he didn't have insurance.

He'd "pay" us by drawing charcoal portraits (when he had charcoal) of us or pencil sketches when he didn't. Beautiful work. Absolutely beautiful. All he ever wanted was a chance - and he never got that.

What he got, eventually, was dead.

Forgive me for saying this, State, since I know nothing about you except what I read here, but from what I read here I feel very much that it's people like you and several others here whose self rightous attitude and "help yourself" mentality which deny him and anyone like him, that chance.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Foolish? Really? Is it customary to build the house first and then buy some where to put it?

Read the article. They bought the land intending to build a home and then the husband was injured and lost his job.

I'm pretty sure alot of people, especially country people, buy land long before they have the money to build upon it.

It's called "planning."

First you buy the land, work your butt off and pay it off.

Then, when the land is paid off, you build the house without going into huge debt.

It keeps things managable.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Does it make sense to put the kids in foster care, at the expense of the state??? Substitute care is expensive on many levels financially and the emotional toll on children and families as well.

Child Welfare agencies are supposed to strengthen families, not pull them apart. Apparently there were no allegations of mistreatment or neglect, just a crappy living situation.

This is about tearing apart families, not their choice in purchasing land.

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

Poor are often poor because of the lack of opportunity, you offer anecdotal evidence and good for that person.. but many lack basic opportunities, whether it be because of education, training etc.

This is about the state of Texas tearing apart families, not as much about economic decisions..

Where can you buy some of those big hearts???

Re: How Texas Helps It's Poor
 

He didn't qualify for SSDI?