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Does "family camping trip" = "we are now homeless"? (merged)


Koala

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I forget which company makes them, but you can get vegan marshmallows that are not grainy and good for roasting. They're expensive, though, about $5 for a small box, and you have to keep them refrigerated.

As for vegan hot dogs, it depends on which brand you go for. Our family likes super links or linkettes, which run about $5 a can, give or take. And that is for a can of about 8 superlinks/10 linkettes... I think tofurkey might make hot dogs in packets which are a tad cheaper, but either way vegan hot dogs are not cheap, neither are marshmallows.

As far as the kids, yes, the parents probably have told them it's just a camping trip. That's probably how I'd sell it to them too, unless they asked me straight up, in which case I wouldn't lie to them. I wouldn't want my kids to have to know, if it could be avoided. of course, kids aren't stupid, and depending on how old they are they'd probably figure it out pretty quick...

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We've broached this subject before. It's unlikely simply being homeless would be cause for removing their children. Even with sufficient mental health evaluations, it's likely Brandy and Jason's parenting would be questioned but I doubt the kids would be removed.

This is what I just don't get about the USA. Over here in the UK, being THAT homeless (ie: pretending it's a camping holiday for the kids) will get you bumped right up to the top of the council waiting lists for accommodation. You would NOT be allowed to be 'camping in the woods' with the kids, social services would step in and put pressure on the council to house you. Now depending on the area (London has huge waiting lists for example) that might mean being put in a hostel or bed and breakfast while you wait for your name to come up for a suitable property. Plus over here if you are on low income you can claim housing benefit/local housing allowance which can pay part or even all of your rent (that is changing though) in a private rented property.

Social services would not permit kids to be living in such conditions at all. Plus if they were aware of the apparent mental health issues Brandy shows, they would be very much involved in the family and trying to get her to seek help.

The so called 'Safety net' in the USA is anything but.

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This is what I just don't get about the USA. Over here in the UK, being THAT homeless (ie: pretending it's a camping holiday for the kids) will get you bumped right up to the top of the council waiting lists for accommodation. You would NOT be allowed to be 'camping in the woods' with the kids, social services would step in and put pressure on the council to house you. Now depending on the area (London has huge waiting lists for example) that might mean being put in a hostel or bed and breakfast while you wait for your name to come up for a suitable property. Plus over here if you are on low income you can claim housing benefit/local housing allowance which can pay part or even all of your rent (that is changing though) in a private rented property.

Social services would not permit kids to be living in such conditions at all. Plus if they were aware of the apparent mental health issues Brandy shows, they would be very much involved in the family and trying to get her to seek help.

The so called 'Safety net' in the USA is anything but.

I'm pretty sure Brandy and Jason won't accept any government assistance. They could have some (very meager) help, but won't take it. And yes, we don't do nearly enough to help those who need it

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I could be just imagining this, but I thought that in one of Brandy's recent incarnations she said something about them making amends with family. It was one of the liberated, 'eclectic', cussing entries. I could have sworn she said something about that. But I guess considering how often she changes her mind on things, it's likely that may already be off the table again.

ETA: It might have been around the time that she came here and said the flip flopping was over. It just keeps standing out in my mind, but I don't know for sure.

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We've broached this subject before. It's unlikely simply being homeless would be cause for removing their children. Even with sufficient mental health evaluations, it's likely Brandy and Jason's parenting would be questioned but I doubt the kids would be removed.

But that doesn't even make sense. You can loose your kids if you refuse to keep your house up to code, but living in the woods and refusing help is ok?

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Would making a phone call to Child Services do anything because Brandy and Jason have taken it to the extreme and are clearly mentally ill. I worry about what will happen to those girls once winter hits and they are still "camping". I wonder if Jason or Brand's family is even aware of what is going on with their grand daughters and if they would put a stop to it.

That what I was thinking about. Unless we were doing something really dangerous, my parents would be more than willing to let my sisters and I live our lives the way we wanted (even if they didn't like it), but the minute one of my nieces or nephew was even threatened with the possibility of being unhappy or unsafe you can bet you ass they'd swoop in and do something. You do not mess with peoples grandbabies.

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This is what I just don't get about the USA. Over here in the UK, being THAT homeless (ie: pretending it's a camping holiday for the kids) will get you bumped right up to the top of the council waiting lists for accommodation. You would NOT be allowed to be 'camping in the woods' with the kids, social services would step in and put pressure on the council to house you. Now depending on the area (London has huge waiting lists for example) that might mean being put in a hostel or bed and breakfast while you wait for your name to come up for a suitable property. Plus over here if you are on low income you can claim housing benefit/local housing allowance which can pay part or even all of your rent (that is changing though) in a private rented property.

Social services would not permit kids to be living in such conditions at all. Plus if they were aware of the apparent mental health issues Brandy shows, they would be very much involved in the family and trying to get her to seek help.

The so called 'Safety net' in the USA is anything but.

After seeing some episodes of Hoarders and Hoarding: Buried Alive, it seems more likely that you'll have your animals taken away from you than your children if you live in squalor like some of those hoarder people do. In the U.S., we're all about individual freedom, doncha know. :roll:

I just wonder where they are. Did they make it to WV? Are they somewhere in the Midwest? Who knows . .

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I am so confused. In one post she says they found somewhere to live. What happened to that??

Maybe it fell through? It's really hard to tell with her what to real and what's fantasy. Maybe the new place was wishful thinking.

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Instead of moaning and groaning about how hard the booming energy/fracking industry has made their search for affordable housing difficult, I wish Jason and Brandy would seek employment in the field. Heck, Brandy could work at the McDonalds or some fast food restaurant and make a little money.

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This is what I just don't get about the USA. Over here in the UK, being THAT homeless (ie: pretending it's a camping holiday for the kids) will get you bumped right up to the top of the council waiting lists for accommodation. You would NOT be allowed to be 'camping in the woods' with the kids, social services would step in and put pressure on the council to house you. Now depending on the area (London has huge waiting lists for example) that might mean being put in a hostel or bed and breakfast while you wait for your name to come up for a suitable property. Plus over here if you are on low income you can claim housing benefit/local housing allowance which can pay part or even all of your rent (that is changing though) in a private rented property.

Social services would not permit kids to be living in such conditions at all. Plus if they were aware of the apparent mental health issues Brandy shows, they would be very much involved in the family and trying to get her to seek help.

The so called 'Safety net' in the USA is anything but.

It is going to depend on what part of the USA- there are shelters and services available, and CPS may insist that they take advantage of them or threaten to take the kids. The sad thing is that there are some family who live like that long term- camping out on their property or a friends' property, ect, and would claim that their rights were infringed upon if CPS stepped in. But it does happen, remember the story about the child on the "coverted" schoolbus last year?

ETA- there is a large range of what is considered acceptable in the US. I love to sleep outside, some of my friends think that it's horribly dangerous, for others it's a normal thing in warm weather too.. (I live in a semi rural area, so there are lots of wild animals, as well as the threat of people- but even if I were sleeping inside, there is a good chance that a determined critter or person could get in too.)

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I'd just like to bring to attention some of her recent Twitter updates, from today:

[attachment=0]brandytwitter.png[/attachment]

Also, was I hallucinating or did someone here (or maybe in her comments) suggest that she was moving to WV to live near Stephanie? Or was that just wild speculation?

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Also in the US it would depend on someone turning in the family to CPS or for the family to draw the attention of law enforcement. In general, no one is out prowling around looking for families who need assistance unless the family comes forward and asks for it.

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Or the help available can just not be enough. I follow this blogger, http://www.theboxcarkids.net/wordpress/ who lived in a state park with her 4 kids for an entire summer after they lost their home. They ended up in an RV, and now are living with family in the Midwest in what sound like seriously subpar conditions - not squalor or deliberate poverty, just that a family of 5 has a hard time finding someone to take them all in. At one point one of her daughters was living with a family friend because the RV was just not good for all the kids.

This blogger claims to have used all available resources - UI, food stamps, public health insurance, etc. I believe her. (She's also worked, but only intermittently.)

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Maybe it fell through? It's really hard to tell with her what to real and what's fantasy.

Time for more Bohemian Rhapsody?

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Or the help available can just not be enough. I follow this blogger, http://www.theboxcarkids.net/wordpress/ who lived in a state park with her 4 kids for an entire summer after they lost their home. They ended up in an RV, and now are living with family in the Midwest in what sound like seriously subpar conditions - not squalor or deliberate poverty, just that a family of 5 has a hard time finding someone to take them all in. At one point one of her daughters was living with a family friend because the RV was just not good for all the kids.

This blogger claims to have used all available resources - UI, food stamps, public health insurance, etc. I believe her. (She's also worked, but only intermittently.)

In my area we have zero emergency housing available for families. When that happens folks are given script to use at a local camp ground in town. Times are tough, I can't imagine how much worse it would be if Mitt got elected.

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Yeah, we do a lot of various kinds of camping - my partner really likes state park tent camping, and my parents are fulltime RVers that we visit & camp near regularly in various states. Except in the really touristy/scenic places, there are always families in the campground who seem pretty permanent. Some are having fun, some aren't.

I was at a KOA in Colorado for a week this spring and there were two little girls who'd lived there all winter (in a camper cabin, with their parents) because their dad worked nearby, and a cabin with 3 or 4 guys living in it who got up and left early in the morning and came back late at night, they looked like roofers or maybe landscapers by their clothes/cars. And one woman who was a long-term camper, got mail delivered there, etc, who looked to me like an active or recently-recovered alcoholic (obviously this is just me overhearing/judging, but there are enough alcoholics in my family I feel like I have that look down pretty well.

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That's very interesting, Rosa. That would make a good subject for a documentary. I don't mean for entertainment, but to promote an understanding of the desperation some people go through every day.

I saw the "Motel Kids of California" on HBO a few years ago. It's one thing to hear a discussion of homelessness/food insecurity, etc. but another to see

how it impacts kids' lives.

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It is really interesting to read how other countries handle housing. In the US, the concept that children are entitled to a roof and minimal heating is preposterous (preposterous I tell you!!!!). Seriously, the attitude is that parents should be providing for children and if it gets that bad, just take the kids away. But it has to get pretty damn bad for that to happen. In many areas, homeless children are seen as a sad reality. Social services does not intervene because being homeless is not a crime.

I volunteer at a center for homeless teens and it always is striking to me that the government is not giving them a home. We are talking about minors here, minors who have no means of getting a job and no family members providing for them. That is how we care for children around here, let them run feral in the streets where they must do illegal things to protect and provide. And then we end up paying to incarcerate many of them when they turn out to be criminal adults. The US is in a sad, sad state regarding housing.

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It is really interesting to read how other countries handle housing. In the US, the concept that children are entitled to a roof and minimal heating is preposterous (preposterous I tell you!!!!). Seriously, the attitude is that parents should be providing for children and if it gets that bad, just take the kids away. But it has to get pretty damn bad for that to happen. In many areas, homeless children are seen as a sad reality. Social services does not intervene because being homeless is not a crime.

I volunteer at a center for homeless teens and it always is striking to me that the government is not giving them a home. We are talking about minors here, minors who have no means of getting a job and no family members providing for them. That is how we care for children around here, let them run feral in the streets where they must do illegal things to protect and provide. And then we end up paying to incarcerate many of them when they turn out to be criminal adults. The US is in a sad, sad state regarding housing.

There are thousands upon thousands of empty, foreclosed properties here in Phoenix. And they're rotting because they're not being lived in. What a waste.

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My ex-husband spend a chunk of his teen years when he lived with his mom living in various state parks and campgrounds in a tent. This was 20 years ago - so it's not a new phenomenon by any means.

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I'm just amazed that no one would step in and help. As has already been said here in the UK a family that had children under 16 would be re-homed immediately as the local authority has a duty of care to help them. Most local councils have emergency housing available and if all the houses really are taken then, again as has already been said, the family would be placed in a B&B.

Of course there is also such a thing as being considered that you made yourself 'intentionally homeless' for example if you didn't pay your rent and were then evicted because of this. Although even then there are things in place.

I'm rambling/thinking aloud now so I'll stop before I confuse myself :lol:

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So...yes, she admits they were homeless for a time - livingthenowbrandy.blogspot.ca/2012/08/yes-this-family-was-homeless.html

From her latest blog post today:

During all this came many life-changes. All wrapped in religiosity. So many changes that people who thought they knew us would drop us and people who knew us well wondered what the fuck was wrong with us. And rightly so.

{I need to interject here that Jason wanted me to add that during all these changes, it wasn't because I wasn't right in the mind as some have claimed. He says that if he were a stronger family leader, as he should have been, most of those changes would have never occurred. And certain female bloggers would have never gotten so close.}

Brandy, I know Jason believes this, but you have a brain that you could use to make real decisions, even without a strong family leader. Maybe he is just wanting to blame himself, but I think it is dangerous to overlook the fact that you have an abusive family history, that you have felt depressed and had symptoms of that depression, AND made erratic decisions. Those are all signs of something more significant than "poor family leadership." Please pay attention to them.

We had a home we could have rented out, with a blogger in West Virginia, but after getting a closer glimpse into their thoughts on a variety of topics, we .... decided it .... wasn't best for our family.

So, with 1300 bucks in our pocket, we decided to head off to a state we've had our eyes on for years: Idaho. All our research led us to believe it'd be great for our family. Exactly what we wanted. We saw affordable places to rent available .... jobs posted. So, we left WY.

It also sounds like they were planning to live with/near Stephanie of musingsofamountainmama.wordpress.com - How did I know that was going to fall through?

And, once again, Brandy is starting over, all over again:

To celebrate our step back towards normalcy and away from isolation .... as well as celebrating our 10th anniversary (on the 14th) ... we made some reeeeeeeeeally good cheeseburgers.

Yesterday, we prepared for our long, long drive. Today, our journey to New Hampshire begins.

Brandy, please, for the sake of your kids and family, you need to start making some real, lasting, responsible decisions about where and how to live.

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I'm actually kind of bummed the Stephanie thing fell through. I was looking forward to some awesome blogging from that dynamic duo.

Obviously FJ is not the place for people to come to for support, but does anyone familiar with social services or mental health services think we could look up some free mental health services in NH for Brandy?

I feel really bad for her. I think she and Jason both need counseling.

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