Citizen’s Donations Needed to Right a Big Wrong by the Cleveland County-DSS !!! Family Destroyed and in Despair!! Report and appeal by Robert A. Williams
My last article told of the plight, 23 years ago, of a 78 year old woman from Casar whose life savings were stolen, ten or more months of Social Security checks were basically stolen, two years worth of home raised garden food was spoiled and two solid years of her life were stolen by the bad behavior and misuse of the legal system by the Cleveland County Department of Social Services. A misuse of the system that left this elderly woman penniless, almost homeless and totally dependent on the charity of friends to kick start her freedom from DSS as ruled upon by 12 good citizens who served on the jury that found her competent to live her life as she pleased. Not like DSS pleased,
Nobody at DSS involved in the travesty was ever disciplined by the leadership of Cleveland County, So, what can you expect except that history has now repeated itself.
Angie George and her autistic 22 year old son James arrived in Cleveland County upon being evacuated from the flood waters of Hurricane Matthew. Angie and James had lived in Fayetteville, NC before the flood destroyed just about everything they had. Angie, of African and Native American racial heritage, had arranged her life around keeping herself and James living independently by working two jobs, looking after James and other children living nearby. She had not chosen to come to Cleveland County with James with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Mother Nature and bad luck had driven them from their home to Cleveland County on a bus with other evacuees. But Angie George was determined to start anew with her and James’ independent living. And did. She found living accommodations on her own and was beginning working again. James had previously qualified for disability assistance and his income was included in the family finances that were beginning to be enough to survive on.
Then DSS showed up at their door with demand to provide services that James did not need. Angie refused to abide by DSS’s unnecessary demands and basically made DSS mad. So, DSS had James declared incompetent by Kerri Howell, who admitted in court on May 21, 2018 that she had ruled James incompetent because his mother had not done what DSS said. Folks, we might all be declared incompetent with that kind of misguided thinking. James was punished for what his mother had done that made DSS mad. DSS also took over James’ disability check. Just like they took Laura Moses’ Social Security check as described in the last article.
Without any further ado about what DSS did and whether it was right or wrong, by taking away James’s income stream from the family finances and actually sending out the Sheriff’s Department to take James away, the family unit has been destroyed until a Jury Trial on James’s competency can be held the week of August 28, 2018.
In the meantime Angie has to find food and shelter. DSS claims on her record have prevent her from finding work in Cleveland County and also in Onslow County where she is temporarily staying in a rental unit. Her savings have been depleted, the rent is due and she is just shy of being homeless and hungry.
This is where the good citizens of Cleveland County need to step up and help with this situation. The following is an email message to me from Angie George asking me to help her get the word out that she needs some temporary help. It includes links
Please read the email below, click on the link, watch the video that describes the situation in Angie’s own words and make a donation to this just cause. You will be glad you did. (If you have any questions regarding problems making a donation, give me a call at 704-538-8257
Thanks
raw
From: Angie George
To: Robert A. Williams
Hi Robert,
Thanks again for helping me get back to my son Ben safely.
We are still fighting to pick up the pieces of this mess caused by DSS incompetence. We are still fighting to eat every day and maintain stable housing due to the loss of income and trauma caused by DSS.
We need your voice and many others to continue to bring attention to this. Will you help us share our campaign to raise what we need to restore our family? I included the link for James’ GoFundMe campaign
We truly appreciate your help and support.
Fighting for Justice for James,
Angie and Family.
Hope this reaches you well.