From: JBrandt@AAA.UOregon.EDU (Jay Brandt (Jason))
Subject: Update of Julia / Phoenix
Organization: The Polyhedron Group
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 92 05:59:20 GMT

The following is a rather long update on what has been happening to Julia,
who has now joined us as "Phoenix". I have included the past history of her
troubles and fleshed out a few more details as they have become known to
me. There were over 23 of you out there who expressed concern for Julia's
well being, so I decided to bring this back to the Place so you could all
understand what she is going through.

In a nutshell: She still doesn't have custody of her kids. She is no longer
suicidal over the loss, or her percieved failure as a mom. (Many thanks to
all of you for that, as your supportive posts really helped lift her
spirits and self esteem). She is getting back on her feet, but the recent
crises have all but bankrupted her, and frankly the system has turned its
back on her for the most part. But she hasn't given up hope, and is
fighting to survive and regain custody of her kids.

The rest of this is a lot of details on her recent problems. If you already
heard all you want to, go on to other posts, and thanks for your time. If
you are familiar with the earlier posts relating to her, but would like the
new details, skip down to "New since our last postings on this topic.".
That's where we left off. If you need background or want all the details,
read on and blessings upon you.

Background Update on Julia Woznack

Julia is the friend of Jason and Pegasus who's children were recently taken
from her. Julia is a single mother on welfare. Her children are Jordon, age
five, and Devon, age two and a half. Jason and Pegasus are the godparents
of Jordon and Devon.

Here is a capsule history of what has happened to Julia so far. 

===============================
Background information:
===============================
Early August. ** Problems with Jordon (age 5), Julia's son, have Julia
under a lot of stress. He has been lapsing in his potty training, for no
apparent reason. He had been violent towards his sister (Devon, age 2.5).
He was becoming very disobedient. He had been diagnosed -finally- as having
"Pervasive Developmental Disorder" which is a low end of the scale that
ends in an Autistic child, and was put on some medications. Jordon and
Julia had been in therapy for over a year at this point. But Julia was not
getting much other help from the system for him, no matter what she did. 

Mid August. ** Jordon receives two stressers himself, in that his favorite
baby-sitter moved out of state, and his godparents (Pegasus and Jason),
moved to a town another hour further away, and had to put the wood shop
that he loved to visit into storage. Jordon's behavior at home and at
school becomes uncontrollable, greatly agitating the situation. Jordon is
disappointed about getting to go to Kindergarten, because he was just 17
days too young. He had been looking forward to Kindergarten with a fair
amount of anticipation. He really wanted to go to school with the big kids
this year, and had his heart set on it. He is sent to another pre-school
instead. It is one that supposedly is good with kids that have emotional
problems. Unbeknownst to Julia, Jordon starts "Escaping" (running away)
from, his pre-school. 

September 15, AM. ** Julia is running around town trying to get ready for
college classes. Registration, books, etc.. She had been accepted in a
Masters Degree program! She informed Jordon's school roughly where she
would be, but they demand a detailed timetable of -exactly- where she will
be and what phone numbers she can be reached at, at all times. She can't
comply with this. They bluntly tell her to take Jordon home, NOW, and -not-
to bring him back. Then they tell Julia for the first time of Jordon's
"escapes", and problems dealing with him. He has been kicked out of his
preschool, and is not to return. 

September 15, PM. ** A neighbor of Julia's informs Pegasus of the
situation, and we do what we can over the phone to calm Julia down. Later,
Julia gets a three hour visit in person from Pegasus. Julia calls every
preschool and agency in the area, trying to get Jordon placed in a new
school. No luck. Julia starts in on a guilt-trip. Pegasus gets her calmed
down to what appears to be a stable situation before she returns home.

September 16, AM. ** Julia is still wracked by guilt over Jordon. She feels
like a total failure as a mother, and blames all his problems at home and
at school on herself. Stressed past the breaking point, she goes to her own
room, closes the door, and "spanks herself" with a leather belt. (A most
"Un-Julia-Like" behavior"). Jordon walks in without her knowledge, and
observed this. She does not touch him or ask him to participate in beating
her. Jordon has a scheduled session with his therapist about 11 am.  He
relates what he has seen, and embellishes on it, claiming that she told him
to beat her, and that she struck him.  Pegasus and I can attest to the fact
that Jordon can and often will tell outright lies. He has lied many times
to us, including doing something wrong, and then claiming to us that -we-
told him it was OK. Jordon's therapist, however, believes him, and calls
CSD (The Children's Services Division, a state agency in charge of child
abuse and children's welfare issues).  Jordon has -one- bruise on his rump.
However, he also bruises easily. Pegasus once raised a bruise on his arm
simply by gently pulling him back out of a busy street. This fact is -not-
considered.

September 17, PM. ** Julia has gone to a physician to obtain a prescription
for an anti depressant and a tranquilizer. She arrives home about 4 PM with
her medication. Twenty minutes latter CSD shows up with the police and
forcibly removes both Jordon and his sister Devon from Julia. Extremely
distraught, Julia goes into hysterics and hits her head on the floor. This
is used against her the next day at the preliminary hearing, as "proof of
how unstable she is". No one offers -any- help to Julia. They just leave
her in the empty house, and apparently don't care if she suicides again.
This will prove that they were right to take the children in the first
place. VERY cold and inappropriate response from  the authorities. What
hurt her the worst was the fact that it was *Jordon's birthday*, and she
could not celebrate it with him and his sister.  Evidently CDS was aware of
the fact because there was a cake and party waiting for Jordon at the
shelter home.  The neighbor called Pegasus again, and Pegasus spent two
hours on the phone to Julia, trying to hold her together. Jason calls out
for help at alt.Callahans. Pegasus places another three hour call to her
late that evening, offering more support.

September 18. ** Julia scheduled at 2:30 PM for a preliminary hearing about
the kids. The state is supposed to provide transportation. Julia is flat
broke, and her car has no fuel. Pegasus travels to Portland again,
intending to meet Julia at the hearing with more supportive e-mail from
Callahans, and the advice they offer. Julia's ride is extremely late. She
misses her hearing, and doesn't arrive until 45 minutes after it is all
over. When she does get there, she looks like hell, and is emotionally in
shock. Prognosis: The kids are likely to remain in foster care until at
least October 23rd (the day before Julia's birthday), when the next court
hearing is scheduled. She has a state-appointed lawyer, and a counselor in
CSD who appears to be on her side. Her Therapist is in favor of keeping the
kids -away- from Julia until she "becomes more normal". Julia doubts now
that she can trust her Therapist. She starts to seek a new one (no success
to date). Pegasus takes Julia home to us in Eugene, seriously fearing for
Julia's life.

September 18-19. Pegasus and Jason keep Julia with them for the weekend,
and try to put her back together. It's really rough. They are somewhat
successful. More Posts from alt.Callahans, come in, and are useful on
raising Julia's spirits. The end result is at least an outer shell that is
determined to fight for her kids, and can operate somewhat normally. She is
returned to her home on Sunday Evening, and will try to continue with
classes, and get her arguments arranged to fight for her kids.

===============================
New since our last postings on this topic.
===============================
September 23 ** Pegasus called Julia to check up on her. Julia has been
sleeping on her couch. too many memories in her bedroom. Julia was informed
today that since the kids are no longer with her, ALL her welfare benefits
will be -cut off- at the end of the month. No medical care. No assistance
for housing or food expenses. The system is turning its back on her. She is
on at least one medication that she must be slowly weaned off of. She will
have no money to pay for that medication after the end of the month. a
helpful pharmacist lets her get the maximum amount of medication on her
perscription refill, but it won't be enough to wean her off the stuff
completely. She applies for a general Assistance grant, and is turned down
because she was not actively looking for work during the last year. She
wasn't working because she was desperately trying to complete her education
and become employable as a Registered Nurse. Also, the kids were eligible
for better support if she was NOT trying to work than they would have got
if she had a minimum wage job and the state cut back her benefits
accordingly. She was able to transfer her nursing school credits and take a
few classes to get a BS in History, but that doesn't do much for her
employability. She HAS to continue in school to defer her college loans.
The jobs she is currently eligible for and mentally stable enough to hold
down won't pay enough to allow her to pay those loans back. She would have
been fine if her RN degree had been completed, as the college she was
attending had a 99% placement rate of its graduates, in good paying jobs.
She is also currently too brittle emotionally, with the recent stresses she
has been through, to successfully run the gauntlet of job interviews.

September 26 ** Jason & Pegasus check in on Julia in person. No real change
in the situation. She was having difficulty getting through to her lawyer.
Still sleeping on the couch. However, her mental attitude is toughening up,
and she is getting better prepared to fight. She even laughed a bit at a
few jokes. Financial situation still looks grim. Trying everything she can
to get financial assistance. May have to give up the few niceties she had
been able to provide for herself and the kids, like the leased stereo and
VCR, both of which are just a few months away from being paid for, and hers
to keep. She may even have to sell her computer, although she desperately
needs to keep it to do her school work on, and to try to earn a bit on the
side typing papers for others. Her car is her only transportation capable
of getting her to classes on time, and isn't worth enough to be worth
selling. She has no other assets which could be used to pay medical and
living expenses.

October 1, very late evening ** A friend of Julia's left a message on our
answering machine, apparently while we were at the store. It didn't get
noticed until Friday Afternoon, October 2nd. Julia is in the hospital,
apparently with accute appendicitis. She was admitted Thursday Night (Oct
1) at 5 PM, went under the knife at 7 PM, and back in her room by 9 PM.
They removed her appendix, which was very badly inflamed, but had not quite
ruptured.

October 2 PM ** Pegasus gets the message off the box.  Julia's medical
coverage under welfare is by now cut off. We do not know how she will be
able to pay the medical bills from this hospital stay. On the bright side
however, is the fact that we don't have to worry about the kids. If they
had not been taken earlier, we would be scrambling like mas with some very
upset and worried kids, trying to make arrangements to take care of them,
or having them taken in by the state anyway, at a time when Julia was ill.
Perhaps this will work out for the best. Now Julia is under the care of a
doctor and is being observed in a hospital. With luck maybe they can get
her the other care she desperately needs.

October 3, early afternoon ** Laurie called Julia's friend, Mim, for an
update. Got an answering machine. Called Julia at the Hospital. She is
doing fairly well, all things considered. She gave us the details on what
happened with her surgery. Pegasus chatted with her for half an hour. She
is securing Internet access, and asked me to post an introductory piece for
her. She will be known as Phoenix. We will visit her on Sunday.

Well, that's what we know so far, we will keep you posted.
================================

Thanks to all of you for listening to all of this. I really appreciate it. 
Thanks a lot for caring,

Jason and Pegasus

Newsgroups: alt.callahans