I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the caseworker at the other end of the phone line. She was describing a situation that had occurred that had brought a three year old boy into care, and the local county Child Protection Service unit needed...
A REAL LIFE HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARE It was October 31st. I remember him walking through the front door of my agency’s office. He was four years old, wearing a Spider Man costume, and carrying a bright, orange, plastic jack-o-lantern. Upon entering...
photo by billybuc MURDER AT ROSEWOOD GARDENS BY: KIM DIAZ © 2013 It was known by the locals, as the “Rose”. It had had many identities in its colorful history, but it now stands as a museum, to the many visitors who enter “her” ornate...
Usually when you hear a parent say those words, “That’s my boy”, it’s in some boastful way, like watching their child help make the winning touchdown for the school team, or getting an “A” on a class project at the school Science fair....
Anyone who knows me knows that I love birthdays. I love that people get to have one day every year that they can call their own, to feel special, eat cake that was especially made for them, and open lots of presents. If they’re really lucky, they...
It was in the day of the Titanic, 1912, when Karen Marie Jensen, my "Grama Jensen", left her native home in Aalborg, Denmark, to make her way to a new life in the United States of America. Karen Marie was seventeen years old, the oldest of...
I’d like to start with an “Imagery” experience to carve out your memory’s history, to dig deep into your heart, to see who formed it in the figurative sense, and see what makes it tick. Let’s begin… Think about your favorite childhood...
As usual, my articles are for the children, about the children, and of the children. The tone resembling that of the Constitution of the United States, and our inalienable rights. For example, the 2nd Amendment: The Right to Keep and Bear Arms....
I'm sure some of us are familiar with the Mother Goose nursery rhyme, "The Old Woman in the Shoe...she had so many children she didn't know what to do". **Note below This particular case reminds me of that rhyme, as the birth parents fell into the...
With the holidays upon us, I reflect on my wonderful childhood and all the warm, toasty memories it lends to me. My mother baking cookies, while dad planned out that special Saturday we'd go cut our tree and haul it home, tied to the roof of our old...
I believe that life can, at times, be compared to a theatrical parody. Where there's a stage (life itself) and life then, becomes a sequence of acts. Settings change, and sometimes the actors can be replaced by an understudy, if they are unable to...
Describe what being human means to you in 10 words or less. Here's my 10 word inventory: Human Being, soul, heart, mind, body, feelings, life, purpose, death. Hard to do keeping it at 10 words or less? You bet. As human beings, we are so much more...
So, let's consider this article, as a to-do on my Social Worker's "bucket list". I'm sure a good many of us remember the Gothic Romance, "The Scarlet Letter" written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. To recap, the story took place in a setting (Boston) in...
I remember seeing her for the first time. She was sitting in the middle section of a white, 15 seat, passenger van that brought her to my office from the local department of social services. She had a beautiful face. Clear complexion. White,...
This triad of stories will be the telltale accounts of three of my forever heroes, and the abuse they suffered at the hands of their "family bully". These three lives have forever changed mine. Not only in the sense of encouraging me to share the...
For those of us who have experienced teen hood, we can relate to the ups and downs and sometimes the bottom-outs, of the relationships with our parents. We can also remember those close calls at parties we shouldn't have been at, but went to anyway,...
Firstly, I would like to state, and give my thanks to, those foster and adoptive parents who have saved many a children from great loss, and provided them with the love, family, and quality of home life that they deserve. In my line of work, I have...
When our children are young, they are most often on a daily schedule and routine, based on a family's lifestyle. In this day and age where both parents work, or a single parent works, most likely the child is picked up from some type of daycare,...
Having heard the phrase that "real life is sometimes stranger than fiction", I'm here to share a story that offers truth to that statement. Sadly enough. Imagine for a moment how much your family means to you. Your immediate family-mom, dad,...
Having been the program manager of a therapeutic foster care program, for over a decade, I was many things to many people. As crises arose I supported the families, the workers, and most of all the children (clients) in care. I was expected to hear...
Before I begin with my article, I would like for you to have a paper and pen or pencil ready to answer some questions. Of course, this is optional, and no one will see it but you, but it is an exercise in knowing who you are, and looking into the...
Too often, some actual accounts of child abuse and neglect go unnoticed if they don't appear on the six o'clock news, or on-line, as newsworthy events go, these days. Too many of "our" children fall between the cracks, no matter how hard our social...
TERRORISM ON THE HOMEFRONT Kim Diaz The year is 2013 and it's more frightening out there, than it ever has been before. We can't seem to protect our children enough. We can probably blame our economy for starters, though. Ever since our...