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When Tina Susak opened her door to Kirsten Hagesfeld in August, she saw trouble - and she already had enough of that.
Her household resonated with the sounds of six children playing - six under age 9, five of them with special needs, including 17-month-old developmentally delayed twin boys, a 6-year-old daughter who appears to be psychotic and an 8-year-old son with severe behavioral problems.
And the household has been living on a shoestring since the children's father, Andy, 27, quit his painting job to help Tina take care of the demanding brood. The couple have been living on $1,700 in monthly SSI payments received by three of the children.
Tina Susak, 25, was angry and defensive when she learned that Cuyahoga County Children and Family Services had enlisted another agency to help with her children's problems: Children and Family Focused Services, a division of Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons Inc. It is one of the 33 agencies that will benefit from Plain Dealer Charities' Holiday Spirit fund.
Since its founding in 1988, the umbrella agency has broadened its mission to include two Mobile Crisis Teams, a program for children exposed to violence, a suicide hot line and the family program Hagesfeld manages.
A veteran social worker, Hagesfeld approached the Susaks cautiously. Their first meeting couldn't have been less promising, both recalled.
"At first I couldn't talk to her," Tina said. "I was thinking, 'Get out of here.' . . . Anytime I hear 'social services' I think they're going to take my kids."
Hagesfeld wasn't surprised.
"Lots of clients mistrust us because they've been let down again and again and again," she said.
She wasn't going to let the Susaks down. "I'm pretty stubborn and this helps me get things done," Hagesfeld said.
She quickly ascertained the core problem: the couple's inability to access and coordinate the specialized education their children need. But doing so is a daunting task, even for someone with Hagefeld's considerable expertise.
For example, the policy of one agency is to close a case if a client misses two appointments, as the Susaks have done - because one of their children had to have emergency hernia surgery.
That agency, Hagesfeld said, "is not interested in explanations," but she's worked to impress upon that agency's social worker the absolute need to cut the Susaks some slack. The couple would not miss an appointment without a good reason, she said.
Over the course of her involvement, Hagesfeld has come to see the parents as having the best of intentions. Their well-kept home is busy with the hubbub of children racing happily around the living area, the charming twins tossing toys playfully out of their playpen in a game with their big brother, Michael, 8.
Hagesfeld helped enroll the twins in Help Me Grow, a state program focused on helping children start school healthy and ready to learn. The twins, born three months premature, are now getting physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. Hagesfeld is also looking for a four-hour-a-day nursery school to further their development - and give the parents a much-needed break.
And she's involved in the effort to get the three oldest evaluated by the school psychologist for placement in special classes. The 2-year-old probably has attention deficit disorder and needs to see a neurologist, too.
It's no surprise that the complications of her life leave Susak emotionally exhausted. "I can't take it anymore," she told Hagesfeld in a call in early November.
"So I went to her house and reviewed the progress we'd made," Hagesfeld said. "I'll make sure everything is working before I bug out."
For more information about Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, call 216-623-6555 or go to www.mhs-inc.org. The Plain Dealer's Holiday Spirit stories are available online at www.cleveland.com/holidayspirit.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: fhenry@plaind.com, 216-999-4806.
Copyright, The Plain Dealer.
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