A Place to Write

I pull up to my first day bright eyes and bushy tailed. Orientation is not at the office I'll be working out of normally, it's at the emergency shelter where HR is located. The building houses more than 40 children on an emergency basis and as I pull up the kids are coming out of the building, heading for school. I smile as I see them come out. A couple are running, excited to be free from the confining walls of the shelter. Their caretakers are ushering other kids out the door and calling for them to slow down or stop so they can remain safe. Suddenly--out of nowhere, a fight breaks out. Before you know it one kid is on the floor, her hair gripped tightly in the fist of the other while she is kicking and screaming, trying to get free. The staff rush over, yelling at both children to stop. As they are separated vial swear words fly from their mouths--mouths that shouldn't be old enough to know such words. So yeah, I got to the right building. The work I do is inte...

Three years ago when I got a new job at CASA of Arizona and made the announcement that I was leaving the Ahwatukee Foothills News after six years of writing, my editor made a quick decision to hire our intern to take over my position. He was a smart kid and seemed like he could have potential as a writer. I was looking forward to leaving the paper but I was excited to have one week to work side-by-side with my replacement and impart all the knowledge I had gained about the community. I thought it was such a blessing, for the paper and the community as a whole, that no information would be lost. I could warn him which sources were difficult to work with and which ones were more open than you might think. I was excited to pass along all my contacts and explain their significance to the community. As we started working together I got excited every time he asked a question about a certain story. I'd get ready to launch into the story, from the beginning, and drop names hat might be...

It's sobering. Sitting in a conference room, looking at ALL the services available to kids with the same background as yours and still knowing none of it will work. And then weeks later being told by a psychologist "You have been a miracle for that child!" And knowing that miracle is about to end. It's about to end in 6 months. It may not end instantly. He may decide to stay for an additional 6 months or a year but whenever he leaves, if some serious change does not occur, his miracle will end. He will lose his job, just like he lost the last two for no good reason. He will lose friends like he does on a weekly or monthly basis. He will push well-meaning people away. He will end up in a bad place. And I will end up feeling like a failure when it happens. I know, logically, that I have done all I can. I've heard from a line of professionals who know me and know him that I have done everything. They're currently begging me to do it over again with a differen...