Family finds creative solution to homelessness - State says otherwise and takes kids away

A Houston family, who had fallen on hard times, moved into a self storage unit - with the owner's permission. The unit was 10,000 square feet and the family was quite comfortable, until the state decided that the place was bad for the kids and took them away from the parents. Main reason for their action - the unit had no running water! I'm sure there were other issues - probably lack of access doors/windows, but are the alternatives much better, i.e. homeless shelters, crime ridden motels?

The northeast Houston storage unit that the Leonards call home has 10,000 square feet—plenty of room for the parents and their six kids to roam around. It has air conditioning, beds, a bath tub, a microwave oven and two computers--among other amenities. But it lacks running water. And partly on that basis, CPS has taken custody of the couple's offspring.

The Leonards believe they are guilty not of breaking a law, only of having fallen on hard times. "We have access to running water," insists the soft-spoken Charlomane. "We get it right here at the storage facility, in a five-gallon drum."

She and her husband have worked hard, she says, to transform the storage space into a home—one far safer, she says, than the crime- and rat-ridden apartment buildings and motels where the family had lived before. Safer, too, in her opinion, than a homeless shelter.

The family had been living happily in storage until a CPS investigator, responding to a tip, discovered the Leonards' solution to weathering the recession and determined it to be bad for kids.

Their children, she says, "were not removed due to the breaking of any laws, but because of someone's perception of where we should reside.

What the property owner has to say:

"I have never seen a more happy group of children. Well-mannered. Well-kempt. Their manners are better than my kids. And I live in a rich neighborhood—just a bunch of spoiled brats here."

Hopefully they are just the victims of an overzealous caseworker, stickler for the rules type and this will have a happy ending when the parents go before a judge - but that's not until August 16th. Then again - who knows. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Maybe they could transfer this caseworker to the parents who actually do abuse their kids??

abc news

You would hope for a positive ending but with CPS that is never the experience I have come to know and loathe. NO sirree bob, they will add more allegations in their kangaroo court where they will not even let the parents OR the GODDAMN children speak and they will find on the behalf of CPS and have all kinds of BS red tape before the parents can even THINK about reunification! 'That is really how these things work...your tax dollars working hard to split up even the closest knitted nuclear families.

reply to post by ldyserenity

Yes I know that can happen and often does. Here are parents who are actually trying to do the right thing, but it doesn't fit in with the rules so........too bad. What the heck happened to common sense?

reply to post by Maluhia


Common sense and CPS is an oxymoron.

I seriously hope that the judge grants the parents their children back. No running water!? seriously. People lived up till not long ago without running water and made due. This family has a water container and is probably cleaner then alot of the tapwater in the US. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what happens.

If they don't have running water, where are they going to the bathroom?

Originally posted by nixie_nox
If they don't have running water, where are they going to the bathroom?

I grew up on a huge ranch in Central Nevada and we had no electricity (other than when dad fired up the generator...which was rare) and no running water (unless the generator was running and then we could run the pump for an hour or so...) and no phone...nobody in that area did.

There were 11 large ranches around us and all of us "ranch kids" lived this way...nothing really big about it other than it was 20+ years ago...we had a sewer system...so when the pump was running we would fill up 5 gallon buckets of water (10 or 15 buckets) and use a partial bucket to flush the toilet...we heated water on a propane stove for doing dishes and bathing...and lived with wood heat as our primary source of heating fuel.

Life was awesome...we were by some standards in that area considered very well off because we had a generator and a pump...some of my friends around the neighboring ranches had neither and water was fished out of irrigation channels on their "spreads".

It wasn't until my late teenage years that the power company ran poles to that end of the valley and people were given electricity and phone lines started going in...the point is...we (myself and my five sisters...) grew up fine...maybe better than fine...our family had and still has plenty of money...we just lived without some of the modern conveniences of life...but we were not neglected by any means...I think we were just the opposite...we were blessed and learned a very valuable lesson in life about what necessary means and how unimportant some things are.

Today I live like any other normal person...and have for years...but the lessons I learned growing up and the impact they have had on my life...and the importance of family...are lessons and values that money can't buy.

So what about running water...I think this family will be fine without it...150 short years ago nobody in the west had running water...this family has something far more valuable I suspect...and DFS would be wise to recognize it!

Thats just my opinion though...

On another note - if more kids these days had life a little less 'luxurious' (electricity, heat, running water) they might find out what real living takes and grow up with a better appreciation for natural resources. It would also way cut down on their time to be miscreant, abusive, get them off their video games and out of trouble if they had to pull water up from a well and live a little rough. I say more power to that!

It's a heartbreak these parents are being punished for doing what they see fit to keep THEIR family together.

That is just out and out WRONG!

peace

Originally posted by nixie_nox
If they don't have running water, where are they going to the bathroom?

In a bucket? In a hole dug in the ground? Where do people # in nature?

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

I don't envy those who judge without godliness (Order AND Charity).

Can I get an "Amen?"

reply to post by ldyserenity


I feel sorry for the children...what type of homes and environments are they in now? Many of those (homes) are filled with abusive people....I feel that the children are in danger.

That's so insane.
Up here, many rural properties only get there water supply from a well or a surface pond. Or we can haul it from town. The only thing that keeps the water "running" is a couple of pumps. A pump for getting the waste out to the septic field, and a pump to get it into a pressurized tank that goes through the house plumbing.

If we lose electricity, we have no running water
We must be thought of as so uncivilized.

Lack of running water here is reason to lower the property tax, not take away the kids :shk:

We live in a totally strange society. Children are not taken from parents who beat them so badly they wind up dead. Then loving parents who do treat their offspring with nurturing love lose them because their lifestyle doesn't fit the norm. It is a crazy world. I suspect during the next few years things are going to become much worse for families. When we all live in tent cities where will the children reside?

Hopefully, we will never all have to live in tent cities. However, it did happen in the great depression. Social services across the nation need much better educated social workers who understand the concept that standards vary from family to family. I loved the movie "Babies". If you haven't seen it, do so. The African child was just as happy as those children that lived in more modern conditions. The show taught me much.

Thanks.

reply to post by Maluhia


Child protective services is just a ruse to make sure that parents do not stray from the will of the State.

reply to post by Maluhia


Building codes prohibit living in storage facilities. What this family is doing is illegal. The running water isn't the biggest problem, the lack of a sanitary toilet is. They talk about retrieving water from somewhere on site and putting it in 5 gallon drums and they mention having a bathtub. Obviously the bathtub is not plumbed, which means they are filling it with water, bathing, and then probably dumping the soapy water (called "gray water") into the stormwater system (via drains in the drives between the buildings). This too is illegal. Gray water must go into a sanitary sewer system (or legal septic system), not a stormwater system. Their children were not taken because there's no running water, they were taken because this family is living in an illegal, unsanitary environment. It's frankly not much different than if they were living under a bridge.

reply to post by silo13


As a teenager in this world I completely agree with your post, I wouldn't mind living like this myself. I love camping, the whole experience thrills me. To be able to live like this for an extended period of time would definately be interesting, and good learning experience. With others arund it would be different, for sure. Overall I think I would enjoy it, teaching and learning from not only my experiences but others as well. To see how we would work and come together for the beneficial gain of the whole group and not just yourself. We have things way too easy now a days, that some do have it easier than others and take full advantage of it. We need to get over ourselves, let we be rich or poor we must all stick together.

Ive experiences cps first hand being taken from my mother on more than one occasion. Now that I am over 18 im rid of their lies and their bs. Sadly, my brother and sister are still suffering because of them. My mothers case has been open for over 10 years. Its so ridiculous. Shes done everything they have asked and more yet they still find excuses and ludicrous reasons for not closing it. Think about tall the money being spent. Its uncalled for.
As i said i experienced it first hand. They will lie to you and make you think your parent or parents are scum. They will deceive you. They will force you to lie against your parents to better their cause. ITs very very pathetic.

reply to post by SavedOne


This make sno sense, the streets are just as filthy as anything, what do you think happens when it rains? All the filth washed off of the streets, all the oil and the exhaust runoff is much worse than what these people could be doing. I see no problem with it, so what theres some soap bubbles, maybe a little pee. I've seen plenty of people pissing in the middle of the street, puking, spitting, etc (yes, even when they have toilet access).Jesus, what is wrong with us that we cannot see that no matter what we do there is filth everywhere, it cannot hurt worse than what allready is done.

reply to post by falah


America is not the place to raise kids. I want to raise my kids on the land, living off of it like people usedto. Of course ill need to get some edumacation on survival but ya know.

As the parent of 6 children myself, I can NOT fathom my children being taken away from me. I would go crazy. So when the electricity goes out, for what ever reason, my home has no running water either. I live on a well. If the grids go down, does that mean that my home is unfit for my children to reside with me in our house? I suppose it would be better if they were living out of their car? On the streets? In a rat infested shelter? Perhaps in a drug infested low rent motel? C'mon, that's just insane!!