Volunteers Try to Reunite Kids, Relatives
By PAM EASTON
Associated Press Writer
September 13, 2005, 3:39 AM EDT
HOUSTON -- Sixteen-year-old Reshad Batiste was separated from his grandmother during the chaotic evacuation of the Louisiana Superdome. He ended up in Texas; she was taken to Kentucky.
For nearly a week, Batiste lived in a Houston shelter not knowing what happened to her. That changed Monday, when he boarded a plane for Lexington, Ky., to finally wrap his arms around her.
"When they told me she was alive I was very, very excited," said Batiste, who stayed strong through prayer. "Sometimes you just have to take the bitter with the sweet."
Batiste is one of hundreds of children reported to have been separated from parents or guardians during Hurricane Katrina. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has helped reunite more than 100 children with their relatives, said Noel Schultz, one of the group's volunteers in Houston.
"They all went in different directions," Schultz said of families separated during the storm. "I think the object was to get to safety as fast as possible and ... reunite later."
The organization has set up a Web site that shows the photos of children who can't find their parents or guardians. The group also is working with police departments in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere to identify parents and children who are looking for each other.
Texas' Child Protective Services workers, with the help of Red Cross volunteers, are caring for 48 unaccompanied children in shelters across the state, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. The agency has taken custody of 30 of them for a variety of reasons, mainly because caseworkers decided their parents or guardians weren't in good enough condition to care for them.
Among the unaccompanied children is a 2-year-old boy agency workers call David. Agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the boy was dropped off at the Louisiana Superdome by his baby sitter, who provided a note with the father's name: David Harold. The boy was later brought to Houston and has been placed in foster care until his relatives can be found.
"We think his name is David, but we don't know," Olguin said. "He doesn't talk. He is very clingy. He will not let go of whoever is holding him."
It is unclear how many children may be staying with friends or neighbors in other shelters or housing. Olguin said it is important for anyone caring for children who don't belong to them to register them, so their parents have a chance of finding them.
Workers are also searching for relatives of 18-month-old Shakim Williams, whose teenage mother, Melkim Williams, may be classified as a missing child, as well. A neighbor took in the toddler after she became separated from her mother.
"We are hoping that maybe the young mother ended up somewhere," Olguin said.
* __
On the Net:
Missing children: http://www.missingkids.com
Link Here
Associated Press Writer
September 13, 2005, 3:39 AM EDT
HOUSTON -- Sixteen-year-old Reshad Batiste was separated from his grandmother during the chaotic evacuation of the Louisiana Superdome. He ended up in Texas; she was taken to Kentucky.
For nearly a week, Batiste lived in a Houston shelter not knowing what happened to her. That changed Monday, when he boarded a plane for Lexington, Ky., to finally wrap his arms around her.
"When they told me she was alive I was very, very excited," said Batiste, who stayed strong through prayer. "Sometimes you just have to take the bitter with the sweet."
Batiste is one of hundreds of children reported to have been separated from parents or guardians during Hurricane Katrina. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has helped reunite more than 100 children with their relatives, said Noel Schultz, one of the group's volunteers in Houston.
"They all went in different directions," Schultz said of families separated during the storm. "I think the object was to get to safety as fast as possible and ... reunite later."
The organization has set up a Web site that shows the photos of children who can't find their parents or guardians. The group also is working with police departments in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere to identify parents and children who are looking for each other.
Texas' Child Protective Services workers, with the help of Red Cross volunteers, are caring for 48 unaccompanied children in shelters across the state, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. The agency has taken custody of 30 of them for a variety of reasons, mainly because caseworkers decided their parents or guardians weren't in good enough condition to care for them.
Among the unaccompanied children is a 2-year-old boy agency workers call David. Agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the boy was dropped off at the Louisiana Superdome by his baby sitter, who provided a note with the father's name: David Harold. The boy was later brought to Houston and has been placed in foster care until his relatives can be found.
"We think his name is David, but we don't know," Olguin said. "He doesn't talk. He is very clingy. He will not let go of whoever is holding him."
It is unclear how many children may be staying with friends or neighbors in other shelters or housing. Olguin said it is important for anyone caring for children who don't belong to them to register them, so their parents have a chance of finding them.
Workers are also searching for relatives of 18-month-old Shakim Williams, whose teenage mother, Melkim Williams, may be classified as a missing child, as well. A neighbor took in the toddler after she became separated from her mother.
"We are hoping that maybe the young mother ended up somewhere," Olguin said.
* __
On the Net:
Missing children: http://www.missingkids.com
Link Here
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