New
York, Dec 22: Julie Rodriguez, at home with her daughter, Elissa, 8,
and her son Brandon, 11, says she wants to counsel troubled youths.
The Neediest CasesFor the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families and the elderly in New York. To celebrate the 101st campaign, an article will appear daily through Jan. 25. Each profile will illustrate the difference that even a modest amount of money can make in easing the struggles of the poor.
If your child or family is using creative techniques to raise money for this year’s campaign, we want to hear from you. Drop us a line on Facebook or talk to us on Twitter.
“A lot of these kids, all they’re looking for is love,” she said. Caring for her own family again, after neglecting them for years, Ms. Rodriguez said, has also become a priority. In 2011, after years of effort, she won custody of her son Brandon, who was separated from her a decade ago when she was in jail.
Had support been more abundant when Ms. Rodriguez, 41, was growing up in crime-ridden Bushwick in the 1970s, she said, she might not have felt lonely and adrift.
After Ms. Rodriguez’s parents divorced when she was 6, her mother, Milagros Verdejos, was forced to work many double shifts at her factory job. Her sister Carmen essentially raised her, she said.
When her mother was present, she was stern, when a more affectionate approach might have been appreciated, Ms. Rodriguez recalled. “It was either overly strict or there was nobody there,” she said of her childhood.
Rebellion and low self-esteem, she said, led her to become pregnant with her first son, Jonathan, while she was in eighth grade. After becoming pregnant, she dropped out of school. Nights at dance clubs introduced Ms. Rodriguez to cocaine, and by 17, she had added heroin to the mix. That year also saw the birth of another son, Joshua.
Her teenage years also marked the start of a string of abusive relationships, including one with a boyfriend who sliced her face with a knife so badly that the wound required 70 stitches. “All I felt was heat at first,” Ms. Rodriguez said of the attack. “I didn’t even know he cut my face until I got to the hospital.” She told doctors, however, that she said had gotten cut in a fight on the street.
She moved away for a few years, to Massachusetts, where she had another son, Richard, in 1997. But her boyfriend’s family disapproved of the relationship, she said, and so she and Richard were soon back in Brooklyn.
One night in 2001, while pregnant with her fourth child, Brandon, Ms. Rodriguez was in a boyfriend’s car while he robbed a Long Island gas station, but cameras captured the whole episode, and they were both arrested.
Ms. Rodriguez gave birth while behind bars awaiting trial, and Brandon was taken from her by the city after drugs showed up in his system. Most of the charges against her from the robbery were dropped, but Ms. Rodriguez served seven months in prison.
In the meantime, Ms. Verdejos had adopted Brandon, after the city’s Administration for Children’s Services decided Ms. Rodriguez was incapable of being a parent. “A judge said I could go nowhere near him,” she said.
But Ms. Verdejos could not care for him for long. In 2007, she was found to have dementia, and he was removed from her home.
And Ms. Rodriguez, who was living then in a shelter in East New York with a boyfriend and two of her children, Richard, and a daughter, Elissa, was found to be unqualified, too, after testing positive for crack cocaine. “That was the end of that,” she said.
Brandon was placed with foster families, and officials threatened to take Elissa and Richard away as well, unless Ms. Rodriguez stopped using drugs. Despite her promises to get sober, Ms. Rodriguez relapsed.
“I didn’t know about therapists and all that before,” she said. “What made me feel better was using.”
Finally, in February 2009, a judge gave her one last chance, and Ms. Rodriguez entered United Bronx Parents, a rehabilitation program. She has been clean for almost four years, she said.
Sobriety could not keep all tragedy at bay. In 2009, Jonathan, her first son, who had moved out of New York City to escape gangs, was shot to death in Allentown, Pa. The case remains unsolved. Joshua is a student at Lehman College.
Ms. Rodriguez now lives in the South Bronx with Richard, now 15, Elissa, 8, and her mother. Their three-bedroom apartment costs $1,600 a month.
Last year, Brandon, now 11, returned to the family on a trial basis, after years of court dates to prove Ms. Rodriguez could be trusted as a mother. In September, officials decided he could stay permanently.
“It feels good” to be back home, Brandon said on a recent evening. Wrestling is his new favorite sport in school, he said.
United Bronx Parents now offers Ms. Rodriguez a new start of a different sort, a job, employing her for 20 to 40 hours a week, for $15 an hour, as a house manager. But she was making only about half that rate last year when preparing for Brandon’s arrival, and could not afford to buy him new clothes and other supplies.
A children’s services case worker suggested that she contact the Jewish Child Care Association of New York, a beneficiary of UJA-Federation of New York, one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The J.C.C.A. drew $885 from the fund, which paid for clothes and a bed.
Now, almost three decades after she dropped out of school, Ms. Rodriguez is working to complete her G.E.D. She also plans to become certified as a drug counselor, so she can work with vulnerable adolescents. But she recognizes that drug use is often a symptom of deeper problems. “It’s about all that you went through before that,” she said.
And if she can meaningfully connect with young people, she said, “I can give them what I never had.”
Ends
SA/EN
The Neediest CasesFor the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families and the elderly in New York. To celebrate the 101st campaign, an article will appear daily through Jan. 25. Each profile will illustrate the difference that even a modest amount of money can make in easing the struggles of the poor.
If your child or family is using creative techniques to raise money for this year’s campaign, we want to hear from you. Drop us a line on Facebook or talk to us on Twitter.
“A lot of these kids, all they’re looking for is love,” she said. Caring for her own family again, after neglecting them for years, Ms. Rodriguez said, has also become a priority. In 2011, after years of effort, she won custody of her son Brandon, who was separated from her a decade ago when she was in jail.
Had support been more abundant when Ms. Rodriguez, 41, was growing up in crime-ridden Bushwick in the 1970s, she said, she might not have felt lonely and adrift.
After Ms. Rodriguez’s parents divorced when she was 6, her mother, Milagros Verdejos, was forced to work many double shifts at her factory job. Her sister Carmen essentially raised her, she said.
When her mother was present, she was stern, when a more affectionate approach might have been appreciated, Ms. Rodriguez recalled. “It was either overly strict or there was nobody there,” she said of her childhood.
Rebellion and low self-esteem, she said, led her to become pregnant with her first son, Jonathan, while she was in eighth grade. After becoming pregnant, she dropped out of school. Nights at dance clubs introduced Ms. Rodriguez to cocaine, and by 17, she had added heroin to the mix. That year also saw the birth of another son, Joshua.
Her teenage years also marked the start of a string of abusive relationships, including one with a boyfriend who sliced her face with a knife so badly that the wound required 70 stitches. “All I felt was heat at first,” Ms. Rodriguez said of the attack. “I didn’t even know he cut my face until I got to the hospital.” She told doctors, however, that she said had gotten cut in a fight on the street.
She moved away for a few years, to Massachusetts, where she had another son, Richard, in 1997. But her boyfriend’s family disapproved of the relationship, she said, and so she and Richard were soon back in Brooklyn.
One night in 2001, while pregnant with her fourth child, Brandon, Ms. Rodriguez was in a boyfriend’s car while he robbed a Long Island gas station, but cameras captured the whole episode, and they were both arrested.
Ms. Rodriguez gave birth while behind bars awaiting trial, and Brandon was taken from her by the city after drugs showed up in his system. Most of the charges against her from the robbery were dropped, but Ms. Rodriguez served seven months in prison.
In the meantime, Ms. Verdejos had adopted Brandon, after the city’s Administration for Children’s Services decided Ms. Rodriguez was incapable of being a parent. “A judge said I could go nowhere near him,” she said.
But Ms. Verdejos could not care for him for long. In 2007, she was found to have dementia, and he was removed from her home.
And Ms. Rodriguez, who was living then in a shelter in East New York with a boyfriend and two of her children, Richard, and a daughter, Elissa, was found to be unqualified, too, after testing positive for crack cocaine. “That was the end of that,” she said.
Brandon was placed with foster families, and officials threatened to take Elissa and Richard away as well, unless Ms. Rodriguez stopped using drugs. Despite her promises to get sober, Ms. Rodriguez relapsed.
“I didn’t know about therapists and all that before,” she said. “What made me feel better was using.”
Finally, in February 2009, a judge gave her one last chance, and Ms. Rodriguez entered United Bronx Parents, a rehabilitation program. She has been clean for almost four years, she said.
Sobriety could not keep all tragedy at bay. In 2009, Jonathan, her first son, who had moved out of New York City to escape gangs, was shot to death in Allentown, Pa. The case remains unsolved. Joshua is a student at Lehman College.
Ms. Rodriguez now lives in the South Bronx with Richard, now 15, Elissa, 8, and her mother. Their three-bedroom apartment costs $1,600 a month.
Last year, Brandon, now 11, returned to the family on a trial basis, after years of court dates to prove Ms. Rodriguez could be trusted as a mother. In September, officials decided he could stay permanently.
“It feels good” to be back home, Brandon said on a recent evening. Wrestling is his new favorite sport in school, he said.
United Bronx Parents now offers Ms. Rodriguez a new start of a different sort, a job, employing her for 20 to 40 hours a week, for $15 an hour, as a house manager. But she was making only about half that rate last year when preparing for Brandon’s arrival, and could not afford to buy him new clothes and other supplies.
A children’s services case worker suggested that she contact the Jewish Child Care Association of New York, a beneficiary of UJA-Federation of New York, one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The J.C.C.A. drew $885 from the fund, which paid for clothes and a bed.
Now, almost three decades after she dropped out of school, Ms. Rodriguez is working to complete her G.E.D. She also plans to become certified as a drug counselor, so she can work with vulnerable adolescents. But she recognizes that drug use is often a symptom of deeper problems. “It’s about all that you went through before that,” she said.
And if she can meaningfully connect with young people, she said, “I can give them what I never had.”
Ends
SA/EN
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