Local News
We Can Blame Resources
By
Jun 16, 2009, 05:19

There were a few people that were not very surprised when, last week, 15 and 16 year old brothers were arrested twice within days.  Those that were aware would ask, when you have young teenagers that do not go to school, apparently due to their mother's neglect, and no job and no responsibility each day, what do you expect?

As reported, after their first arrest they were returned home to their mother, Hope Cruz.  My bet is that they felt they had nothing to fear, so a couple of days later, they set out for a record number of car burglaries in one night.  Fortunately, Sheriff's Deputies caught them the next day.

These 2 teenagers have not attended school a whole lot over the past couple of years.  Along with their mother, there is plenty of blame for everyone, but it's tough to pen down who should bear that responsibility.

No one takes the blame for a failed mother, but the community bears the problem.  Our resources to address this and other significant problems is severely lacking.  Last school year, Family Connection Collaborative began the ESCAPE program.  The goal is to identify and work with families and children in K through 3rd grade and head off problems before middle and high school.

Ami Mejia

Ami Mejia, Family Connection Coordinator, tells us they would like to address more of the problems, but with the limited resources available, they do what they can.

As far as the 2 teenagers, it appears the school system did what they could when the boys did not attend school as they should.  The attendance policy is clear and school officials apparently worked through the "attendance contract" to the mother's arrest.

From the DCBOE Attendance policy
Meetings with the Attendance Support Team may result in an 'Attendance Contract' if the AST deems it necessary. The contract is reviewed with parent and/or student. All parties sign the contract. This meeting is followed with the on-going monitoring of the student's attendance. A broken contract may result in a court referral.

Hope Cruz

The contract requires parental commitment, and with none, a court referral.  It appears the school worked through the process during 2007 and charged her in late 2007.  Hope Cruz, at left, was arrested for 22 counts mandatory education for children in September of 2008.  She went to State Court for these charges in December of 2008.

In her plea deal, Hope Cruz was ordered by the Court to take her kids with her and not come back into the state of Georgia, west of I-75 and south of I-20, except Fulton County.  This sentence was for 8 counts of mandatory education for children and she received 12 months probation with no fine.  Fourteen more counts of mandatory education for children was nolle pressed.

Obviously she did not leave Decatur County, but, what this order effective did was to ban these 2 teenagers from attending school in Decatur County - because they were not allowed to be here.

In May of 2008, Hope Cruz was arrested for shoplifting and in September arrested for DUI.  In January 2009, Hope Cruz's DUI sentence included 12 months probation.

So where was DEFACs in this process?  Or the Citizen Panel that oversee DEFACs cases?  And if this did get to court, isn't CASA supposed to be there as a child advocate?  Did this go to Family Court and the kids ordered returned to their mother?  Unfortunately the why's are not public, only the results.

I am assuming that with no physical abuse, a roof over their head and something to eat, then that's close enough for government work.  Again, not enough resources for the challenges and the results are repeated all too often for too many children.

Lastly, one can only wonder what is next for these 2 teenagers.  How much time will they spend in Blakely Youth Detention Center and what will they do next? 

With no education nor trade, it leaves them few avenues.

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