Portfolio at NYU

Posted 04.08.08
Morristown shelter leaves mom to fend for self

By Vidya Padmanabhan

Originally published in the Daily Record, July 03, 2007

ROXBURY -- Kim Hart has until 11 a.m. today to learn whether she can keep her three young children.

At noon Monday, the 39-year-old mother sat watching Emily, 8, Zackary, 7, and Bailey, 5, play near a pile of gravel in the parking lot of the Days Inn in Ledgewood.

"They are looking to me to keep them safe," she said. "They don't understand that it's out of my control."

Hart and her children had been staying at the Homeless Solutions shelter in Morristown for about a week when she was asked to leave Thursday because Bailey had gotten into a fight with a 14-year-old girl at the shelter, she said. Her caseworker at the state Division of Youth and Family Services brought them to the motel on Friday and told her that, if she didn't find somewhere else to live by this morning, the children would be placed in foster care, Hart said.

The caseworker, Matt Topalanchik, declined comment Monday, but said he would pass on a message seeking comment to the appropriate parties at the agency. There was no response by press time Monday night.

Hart's case illustrates the precarious balancing act performed by divorced or single mothers who must reconcile the costs of child care with the need to work for an income.

After her divorce in 2005, Hart first tried to juggle a job as a nurse's assistant with child care costs. There came a point when she couldn't afford to work, she said, and she began to negotiate the terrain of government assistance, homeless shelters and public housing.

Hart had been married for 15 years, living with her husband, Robert Hofmaster, and five children, in a house in Morristown they rented from Hofmaster's mother. When the couple divorced, Robert, 16, and Kelly, 13, chose to stay with their father.

At the time of the divorce, Hofmaster did not have a steady income, Hart said, and she was working as a nurse's assistant at Morristown Memorial Hospital. Hofmaster and his mother let her stay in the house free of charge and take care of the three younger children, while Hofmaster moved in with his mother.

Hofmaster applied to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and received assistance, Hart said. According to the Web site of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, it awards assistance in the case of -- among other cases -- "needy families that include a minor child living with a parent or a caretaker relative."

No money for food

Hofmaster said in a phone interview Monday that he could not work because he had injured his back and received state assistance for three months.

Since Hofmaster was receiving assistance, Hart was required to pay child support, which was deducted from her paychecks at their source, she said.

From November 2006 until April this year, she paid $12,000 -- almost half her annual salary -- she said. More than the remainder was going toward child care, she said.

"I had no money left for food," she said. "I had to leave my job."

In April, she quit her job as a nurse's assistant at St. Clare's Hospital in Boonton. In June, her mother-in-law filed eviction proceedings, she said.

She moved into Homeless Solutions on June 20 for what she thought would be a three- to six-month stay, and was working to get public housing or government housing subsidy, when Wednesday's incident involving Bailey happened, she said.

The children had been in the common kitchen with some older children of other residents at the shelter, when Bailey came out crying, saying he had been in a fight with a 14-year-old girl, Hart said.

According to Hart, she and the parents of the 14-year-old had resolved the matter amicably. She explained to the other family that "sometimes when they're frustrated, hitting is all they know," she said. Bailey has been seeing a therapist and undergoing tests, and may be facing a diagnosis of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, she said.

The other family also revealed that their daughter had been involved in other prior fights, she said.

Still, she said, she was called into the management office on Thursday and informed that she would have to leave the shelter Friday. The fact that one of her children had climbed onto the kitchen counter was among the reasons given for the eviction, she said.

"To have a family with three children with emotional needs thrown out on the street -- I think it's just unfair," Hart said.

Homeless Solutions will not comment on individual cases, said Katie Laud, the shelter's chief financial officer.

"We will continue to work with DYFS and the Office of Temporary Assistance as a team for the very best solution for everyone," she said.

DYFS ultimatum

Further bad news came after Hart's Division of Youth and Family Services caseworker drove her to the Days Inn.

"They said, 'You need a place to go or the kids are gone,'" she said. "I feel like it's their goal to take my children away from me."

Around 1 p.m. Monday, she said she had made numerous calls to various shelters, but had not found a spot. However, by day's end, she said she had learned through a mutual friend that her husband had offered to let her and the children stay with his mother.

Hofmaster said on the phone that he had offered to let the children stay, but had not offered to let Hart stay. However, he had not spoken with Hart directly, he said, and details were yet to be worked out.

Hofmaster is currently allowed supervised visitation with the three younger children only in the presence of his mother.

The plan for the children's stay would still have to be approved by DYFS and, by end of day Monday, Hart and Hofmaster had not received a response from the agency, they said.

"I'm shocked," Hofmaster said, regarding DYFS' ultimatum. "There is no emergency basis for this.

"As a father, I don't want the kids in foster care," he said. "I hope Ms. Hart can find some kind of answer to her situation."