Day #6 (30 Day Blog Challenge)

Day #6 What is the hardest thing you ever experienced?

At the young age of 13 or 14  I entered Leake & Watts. These had to be some of the best & roughest years of my life. If you never been in the system then you won't understand but if you have then you will. I didn't want to be in the system & for the most part what kid does? I think I cried myself to sleep the 1st night there. I spent all my teenage years here until I aged out the system. Leake & Watts has taken some heat for several incidents taking place there & most recently Corey Foster died there. When I reflect back I can remember just about every good & bad thing that happened to me while I was there. Most times people want to reflect solely on the bad when it comes to the Foster Care system but I will talk about the good as well.

Let's start with the good. I came into the system angry & mad at the world. I hated my family for leaving me there but as time went on I adjusted. At L&W I learned about self preservation, loving other's so much more. The biggest thing for me was I got a family. A large family. Like all families we fought, laughed, cried everything.  People I would never met, had I not been there I am now still friends with years later. Staff who mentored me & who are still apart of my life to this day. They gave me arms to cry in & dealt with me on my best & worst days. When I went into crisis they would restrain me then talk to me right after. LOL. They loved their job. I learned that life wouldn't be easy & if I wanted something I had to go get it. I may not have had my biological family but they filled that void during those years.

Let's take a ride down memory lane.....

I remember feening to go the Teen Center seeing Cathy (or Big Yellow as I called her),  Ms.Robinson, Stacy, Gore, Mr.Rose, Quincy & Legrand. Or acting like I was sick just to see the clinic staff Vanessa, Munesta, Chris , Sharon & Mrs. Massop. I'd run to my room if they said they called Mike Devry & he was bringing the needle. FYI, he was a nurse first. Then once he became a boss I loved his office because he had all those toys. That place was a kids dream land. Now he's idk probably in a back room pushing papers lol. I used to be terrified of Walton, Rector & Ms. Packer & Ms. McCray both McCrays. They was some big chicks lol.. Cool as hell though. Whew they would bust ya balls for real. I think Ms. Packer worked every position at Leake & Watts lol..I liked sneaking off to the AOD to see Ms. Woodson & Mr. Clarke. The reason I still write is because of Mr. Lester Harper . He gave me my first journal & I still have it. Night school with Ms. Lookloy, Ms. Reece, Mr. Thomas & others was dope as hell. The support staff Walker & Smith were the best as well. I also miss Sister Barbara & her afro centric self. Lots of people may not remember her. I would go in crisis just so that Ms. Winter or Ms. Dormady would come visit me lol. I was a mess. I remember Whaley always looking out for me. He kept me in line or at least tried lol. He was the father I didn't have at the time. Of course Youth Night was dope with Father Cannady. Can't forget about always harassing the Independent Living staff Tashmiya Byers & Monique knowing damn well I wasn't going nowhere lol..Or doing silk screening with Owens & Mr. Lang. The old school Leake & Watts was so much fun & love. The staff back then loved the kids & their job. However, as the tides turned & different people took charge they fell all they way off.

Now let's fast forward to the stuff that people don't want to admit or turn away the blind eye too. I can honestly say I was one of the smart ones to get everything & then some out of Leake & Watts. I mean hey why not? That's where lot's of kids in the foster care system go wrong. They don't realize that 18 comes quick. Real quick. I don't seen many of my friends dropped off at the shelter with their stuff & a metro card. That's when it hits you like damn I messed up.

The Watts doesn't prepare most kids for real life. I remember when this kid spit in a staff's face & she got restrained & then sent to her room. Say what? Biggest mistake. Her ass would've been hauled off to jail or whopped in real life. I remember when I popped off on a staff & she popped right back. We were getting it in right in my room & then after a few minutes other staff came to break it up. See what I'm saying? That's realistic. I wasn't mad or didn't run to call the State because I knew she was human whether she got paid or not. That's real talk. Lot's of young people don't realize that shit we did on the Watts wasn't acceptable in the real world. You can't just curse people out & go off on them without them retaliating . The administration was very wishy washy. Sometimes they'd punish a kid, sometimes they wouldn't. Inconsistency at it's best. Another thing on the Watts I did that was crazy to the outside world is that I would have half my hair braided the other half out. Or I'd have on basketball shorts with sweats under. Goody would always make change. He hated that stuff. LOL.

Then funds started getting cut back & all those trips to the Dude Ranch disappeared & we would be going to the whack ass movies lol. Staff started quitting because they were not appreciated. So we lost the good ones & gained the ones who wanted a check. Then you had the one's who were brown nosing there way up the ladder. Hmmm... Mr.Cohen & Mr. Fuller. Ooops. I didn't say that. Yup, I did. Staff who were there for years were getting treating like crap by higher up's so the kids lost out. They were doing people dirty left & right. Like firing staff then trying to rehire them with less pay. Smh. Sad.

The politics at the Group Home were no different than those at the Residential. Mitchell was full of it. Once Ms. Winfield left that shit fell to hell. Yup yup. I miss her, that was my boo. Where is Betty? Even though she kicked my ass out out the group home. Yes, I got kicked out. I didn't even know that was possible. Smh. LOL. However, I have the gift of gab &  months maybe almost a year later I talked my way back in through what's her name Mendez..Smh. The best social worker's that GH had were Ms. Satterfield & Ms. McClean. I remember when my someone wanted me pull a prank on a social worker who had a baby by a married man who also worked at Leake & Watts. So my dumb ass acted like I was calling from the Maury Show & I wanted to have a paternity test done for her kid. Let me leave that alone. Hurst staff would be faking receipts & having us sign them. I signed so many lol. Sleeping they life away on the overnight shift. I remember when we snapped a pic of a night staff sleeping lmao. Evil. Some staff would even steal food. Smh. I can write a book on this stuff. I'd sometimes take the log book to my room for some late night reading & I'd be like what the hell. It looked like my niece could write better than that. I'm sure that was because a few of the staff didn't have HS educations. Yeah that's crazy but it's true. I got my sources lol. Hurst House went through more House Manager's than I can remember sheesh. It was HELL house. I only remember a few from The Ghetto Ass She Ratchett aka Ms. Wilform  to  Ms. Sticky Fingers Jordan to Ms. I don't know where she came from Nedd. Then I guess they got tired of hiring people so they would appoint a certain staff member to be HOUSE MANAGER. They had them do all the work but they didn't get no House Manager pay. LOL. Modern day slavery. The best day in Hurst was when Ms. Niasse & Ms. Dickson was about to get it popping. They were about to throw down. Now that is something that no one  in Hurst will ever forget.

However, the most scandalous stuff that I encountered at Leake & Watts were the staff who had relationships with the residents. Now I can write about this because I had several relations with staff. I never forgot when Jasmen my girl at the time caught me on South Broadway with a certain staff member from the clinic. I was busted. The next day I was called into Mike Devry's office & my boo was fired. Damn, I was tight.  I think that's why Tony Cohen didn't like me. I was chopping his Shrady & Brownell staff down . Most know, other's don't. I was involved in a 6 yr off/on relationship with one of my staff. At the time I thought was the shit. However, looking back it was the biggest mistake of my life. She turned me into a bitter ass dude who hated women even more than I already did. Just the fact that I had to have a secret relationship for all those damn years was enough to drive me crazy. However, unlike other residents I never spoke a word of my relations until now that is...LOL...

Ok, let me give a shout out to all the Leake & Watts past & present staff who did their job. If I don't list a name don't charge it to my heart, charge it to my memory....

(AOD) Woodson, Packer, Honeywell, Boone
(School) Lookloy, Reece, Deans, Lang, Owens, Shell, Carter, Negron, Cowans, Smith, Walker, Stevens, St.John, 
(Rec Dept.) Robinson , Cathy, Gore, Rose, Stacy, Quincy. LG
(Brownell) Roulach, Carver, Myers, McCray's, Mr. Massop, Glover, Whaley, Adams, LaRue, Youngblood
(Shrady) Faulkner, Hodge, Bean, Bowery, Hill, Petrie,Washington, Donadelle, Kelley, Petrie, Lopez, Tamika Davis
(Davis) Palmer, Philpot, Butta, Lyons,
(Wagner) Johnson, Jackson, Shubrick, 
(Weeks) Johnson
(Diagnostic) Prioleau, Smith, Adams
Misc..Winter's (sister & brother), Dormady, Father Cannady. Ms. King. Effie, Mr.Nelson
All the clinic staff.
Ms. Wallace (Salon)
Mr. Bradshaw


Group Home


Kerry, Camille & Shelba (The Best In The World!! )
Winfield, McClean, Sattersfield, Tashmiyah, Monique
Howard, Roche, Brooks, McGill, Mabry, Davis, Blake..Niasse & Dickson for the best almost fight ever!




GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN..GOODY,MS.WASHINGTON, MS.SNELL,  MR.SIMPSON










I SHOULD START A PETITION FOR MS.WOODSON TO RUN LEAKE & WATTS. SHE BEEN THERE LONG ENOUGH & SHE KNOW THE IN & OUTS. PLUS SHE COOL. WHAT YA'LL THINK?