Tag Archives: Family

Search resumes off Florida for missing family on sailboat

(Reuters) – Search crews were scouring the waters off the Florida coast early on Wednesday for a man and his three teenage children who were reported missing after setting off on a 29-foot-sailboat (9-meter) three days ago, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The family, including the father, two boys aged 13 and 15 and a 17-year-old girl, were last seen on Sunday morning, when they set sail from Sarasota, Florida, and were headed to Fort Myers, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Later that day, the father phoned his brother from the boat and told him he was struggling with six-foot-waves and “attempting to survive with his children” offshore of Englewood, a community about 30 miles south of Sarasota, the Coast Guard said.

The family, who was not named, were traveling to Fort Myers to have the boat repaired, the Coast Guard said.

At first light on Wednesday, the Coast Guard sent an HC-130 Hercules rescue aircrew to resume its search for the missing family, it said on Twitter.

Several state and local maritime emergency responders have also been involved in the search.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Congress eyes $1 billion to aid at-risk families

Neonatal Therapeutic Unit at Cabell Huntington Hospital

By Duff Wilson and John Shiffman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Key members of the U.S. Congress said Friday they had reached a compromise to shift more than $1 billion to try to keep struggling families together, including those with babies born dependant on opioids.

The proposal is driven in part by an opioid crisis that threatens thousands of families. The bill would allow mental health, substance abuse and parenting assistance whenever a child is deemed at “imminent risk” of entering foster care. The measure also offers support for relatives who unexpectedly assume responsibility for a child when a parent cannot.

Under current law, such funds may only be spent after a child enters foster care. A spokesman for the Child Welfare League of America, John Sciamanna, called the proposed change “a landmark…, potentially historic.”

The legislation involves more than $1 billion over 10 years. Related opioid bills have not included funding.

“This bill would make a historic shift in child welfare funding by offering a way for moms and dads to get help and treatment rather than pitching in only after children are removed from home,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.

The bill is a compromise between four powerful members of Congress: Wyden; the Senate Finance committee’s Republican chair, Orrin Hatch of Utah; the Republican chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, Kevin Brady of Texas; and the ranking Democrat on Ways & Means, Sander Levin of Michigan.

The plan offers “bipartisan solutions for families and children affected by the opioid addiction crisis,” Hatch said in a statement.

In December, a Reuters investigation revealed that at least 110 babies had died since 2010 after being born opioid-dependent and sent home with parents ill-prepared to care for them. No more than nine of the 50 U.S. states followed a federal law requiring them to help those newborns, the news agency found.

In response to the Reuters series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked all states to report by June 30 whether and how they are following the existing law, known as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. In May, the House passed legislation to improve safety planning for children born dependent on opioid drugs.

Reanne Pederson of Devils Lake, N.D., one of the women portrayed in the Reuters series who accidentally smothered her newborn in bed while on drugs, said she was happy to hear about new funding possibilities.

“It’s important to me that moms who are struggling with addiction get help,” she said.

(Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Venezuela economic crisis means fewer meals, more starch

Struggling Venezuelan family

By Carlos Garcia Rawlins and Alexandra Valencia

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s soaring prices and chronic shortages have left 65-year-old homemaker Alida Gonzalez struggling to put meals on the table.

She and her four family members in the Caracas slum of Petare now routinely skip one meal per day and increasingly rely on starches to make up for proteins that are too expensive or simply unavailable.

“With the money we used to spend on breakfast, lunch and dinner, we can now buy only breakfast, and not a very good one,” said Gonzalez in her home, which on a recent day contained just half a kilo of chicken (about a pound), four plantains, some cooking oil, a small packet of rice, and a mango.

The family did not know when they would be able to buy more.

Recession and a dysfunctional state-run economy are forcing many in the South American OPEC country of 30 million to reduce consumption and eat less-balanced meals.

In a recent survey by researchers from three major universities often critical of the government, 87 percent of the respondents said their income was insufficient to purchase food.

The study of nearly 1,500 families found rising percentages of carbohydrates in diets, and found that 12 percent of those interviewed do not eat three meals a day.

Government supporters have long pointed proudly to the improvement in eating under late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who used oil income to subsidize food for the poor during his 14-year rule and won United Nations plaudits for it.

But President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s successor, has faced a collapse in the price of oil, which provides almost all foreign income. He further has blamed an opposition-led “economic war,” though critics deride that as an excuse.

Either way, Venezuelans are tired and cross.

A minimum wage is now only around 20 percent of the cost of feeding a family of five, according to one monitoring group. Lines snake around state supermarkets from before dawn.

“You have to get into these never ending lines – all day, five in the morning until three in the afternoon – to see if you get a couple of little bags of flour or some butter,” said taxi driver Jhonny Mendez, 58.

“It makes a person want to cry.”

Natalia Guerra, 45, lives in a small home in Petare with eight relatives, only one of whom has a significant salary.

She remembers buying milk for her own kids but now cannot find any for her grandchildren. “We’re a big family, and it’s constantly getting harder for us to eat,” she said.

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Toni Reinhold)

Food Banks Struggling to Keep Up with Demand

Food banks across the country are facing an increase in families in need, forcing some charities to reduce the amount of food that can be given to each family.

Feeding America, America’s biggest food bank network, says that they will give away around 4 billion pounds of food this year, more than double the amount they provided to people in need a decade ago.

“We get lines of people every day, starting at 6:30 in the morning,” said Sheila Moore, who oversees food distribution at The Storehouse, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest food pantry.

Economists say the increased demand is surprising because of the increase in employment figures but many of the people who found jobs are only working part-time or for low wages, and are unable to feed their families with the costs of housing.  Many others who have struggled to find jobs have stopped looking for work.

“I know what people go through,” Peggy Bragg, 56, of Des Moines said. “You have to choose between food and bills.”  Bragg has been out of work for months.

A Fort Smith, Arkansas food bank does monthly food giveaways at a local park and draws around 1,000 families.

“When people are willing to stand in 100 degree weather for hours, that tells you something,” said Ken Kupchick, the food bank’s marketing director.

FBI Issues Alert: Middle Eastern Men Harassing Military Families

The FBI has issued an alert to officials in Colorado and Wyoming over a group of Middle Eastern men who have been harassing military families in the region.

Areas specifically mentioned by the FBI alert include Greeley, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

One incident had two Middle Eastern men approaching a woman outside her home.  The men stated they knew she was the wife of a U.S. interrogator.  The men laughed when she denied the claim and then the men entered a dark-colored sedan that contained two other Middle Eastern men.

Other incidents have the men attempting to gain information.

“On numerous occasions family members of military personnel were confronted by Middle Eastern males in front of their homes,” the FBI alert reads. “The males have attempted to obtain personal information about the military men’s family members through intimidation.”

“The family members have reported feeling scared,” it added.

ISIS has stated that they intend to strike military members in their homes and last March published a list of addresses they claimed belonged to U.S. military members.

The alert also says the FBI cannot confirm if the incidents involve the same men.

Daughter’s Balloon Message to Dad Brings Message to Her

In a situation defying explanation, a grieving widow and daughter received the most unexpected encouragement and peace on Father’s Day.

Johnny Seibold was only 43 when he died from pancreatic cancer in May, leaving behind wife Sandy and 13-year-old daughter Saige.

“He was an amazing man,” Sandy Seibold told the New York Daily News. “He was a hard worker, and he loved us. He did everything he could to get us everything that we wanted. We had a really good life, and that was hard to lose.”

On Father’s Day, Sandy took her daughter to her father’s grave.  Saige wrote a letter to her dad and attached it to a balloon that read “#1 Dad.”  The letter asked whoever found the letter to contact them.

“We thought the idea of sending balloons to heaven sounded good,” Sandy said.

The mother and daughter then left the cemetery to run errands and returned home 25 miles away from the gravesite.

To find the balloon and the letter hanging on a fence 100 feet from the house…where Saige and her father would often spend time working together.

“What are the chances?” Sandy said. “I think I started crying. It felt like a message from him.”

The two women say that they now have a lot of peace about losing Johnny.

Woman Adopts Dying Friend’s Four Daughters

When single mother Elizabeth Diamond died in April less than a year after being diagnosed with stage 5 brain cancer, she left this life with one less worry thanks for her friend Laura Ruffino.

Ruffino, who had been friends with Diamond since they were in grade school, adopted Diamond’s four daughters to make sure they had a loving, stable, caring home after their mother’s death.

“She said if anything ever happens to me I want you to take my girls and I instantly said ok,” said Ruffino.

“I would always want someone to do that for me. Her kids and I were so close anyway, because she was my best friend. I wanted to give her peace,” Ruffino added to ABC. “I can’t even imagine what she had to be going through.”

The family has not been forced to accommodate four new family members alone.  The community of Orchard Park, New York and surrounding towns have stepped up to provide the family with money and supplies they otherwise could not afford.

For example, someone donated a large refrigerator so that they could store enough food for the now family of 8.

“I’m in awe of the love and generosity we’re getting,” Ruffino told the New York Daily News. “I feel like Liz has her hand in all this and as a family we’re just getting stronger.”

Diamond’s family has been supportive of the adoption by the Ruffino family.

“I think it’s remarkably generous for Laura and her husband to do that,” Patricia Kaminski, Diamond’s aunt, told ABC. “I know Elizabeth’s family is very happy with that family. The rest of the family believe it’s an excellent outcome for the children.”

More Children in Poverty Now Than During Recession

A new report shows that more than one in five American children were living in poverty in 2013, the last year that complete data is available.

The number of children in poverty, 22%, is higher than in September 2010 when the New York Times said the Great Recession had brought poverty rates in the U.S. to their highest level in 15 years and greater than the 18% child poverty rate recorded in 2008.

The report also says that almost one-third of American children in 2013 lived in a home where no parent held a steady, full-time job.

The report says with only a “few exceptions”,  “nearly all of the measures that [it] track[s], African-American, American Indian and Latino children continued to experience negative outcomes at rates that were higher than the national average. Overall unemployment rates have fallen, but the unemployment rate for African-Americans is currently 11 percent — 2.4 percentage points higher than where it was prior to the economic crisis. Nearly 40 percent of African-American children live in poverty, compared to 14 percent of white children.”

“The fact that it’s happening is disturbing on lots of levels,” said Laura Speer, the associate director for policy reform and advocacy at the Casey Foundation, told USA Today. “Those kids often don’t have the access to the things they need to thrive.” The foundation says its mission is to help low-income children in the U.S. by providing grants and advocating for policies that promote economic opportunity.”

Speer added their is hope for 2014 because the decline in the unemployment rate means more children in a home with at least one adult having stable employment.

Officer Buys Diapers, Shoes for Mom of 6 Caught Shoplifting

When Sarah Robinson of Kansas City, Kanasa was caught shoplifting at a Walmart store after running out of diapers for her 2-year-old daughter, she feared going to jail and the loss of her family.

“My heart just dropped. I didn’t know what to say or do. It was horrible. I thought I was going to jail,” said Robinson.

Instead, she ran into an angel wearing a badge.

Officer Mark Engravalle of the Roeland Park Police Department arrived at the Walmart after answering the shoplifting call.  As he spoke to Robinson, the officer noticed that some of her children were not wearing shoes.  It led him to ask about her situation rather than what she was doing inside the store.

“He noticed [what she stole] were necessities like diapers, shoes for the kids, some clothing,” John Demoss, Roeland Park public information officer, told ABC News. “He asked her what the situation was, and she broke down crying.”

Officer Engravalle had to do his job but instead of arresting and taking Robinson to the station, he gave her a citation for misdemeanor threat.  Then he walked back into the Walmart.  He bought diapers, baby wipes and clothes for the children.

“The officer had two children of his own, and he thought of his two kids,” Demoss said. “He thought it was the right thing to do.”

“He couldn’t have been nicer to my girls,” Robinson said. “And then I got a call the next day saying they wanted to help us further and help us get a place to live.”

Two local radio stations then stepped up to raise items for the family.  One station collected over $6,000 in items for the family.

“It’s A Miracle”: Teen Survives Plane Crash, Walks To Safety

Aviation experts and rescue personnel are calling it a “miracle” that 16-year-old Autumn Veatch not only survived the crash of her grandparent’s plane but was able to walk two days through the Washington wilderness until she found a trailhead and a passing motorist.

“It’s a miracle, no question about it, ” Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lustick of the Civil Air Patrol said Monday. “Moments of joy like this can be hard to find.”

Veatch said that her grandparents were killed in the crash according to a transcript of the 911 call made from a Mazama, Washington store where the motorist took the girl.

“So tell me exactly what happened,” the dispatcher told the girl, according to a transcript of the call posted by CNN.

“I was riding from Kalispell, Montana, to Bellingham, Washington, and … well, I don’t know where, but we crashed and I was the only one that made it out,” Veatch said in a low voice.

“Made it out from the collision?”

“From the plane,” she said.

“Or survived?”

“Yeah, the only one that survived.”

“Are you injured at all?”

“Yeah, I have a lot of burns on my hands, and I’m … kind of covered in bruises and scratches and stuff.”

Officials tried to tell the media they didn’t know the condition of the girl’s grandparents until the transcript was released to CNN.

“Autumn said they flew out of the clouds, and then flew into the side of a mountain. She was able to get out, and she spent the night by a river before hiking to the highway, where she was rescued,” Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said.

“It gets cold up there at night, pretty high elevations, so she survived not only the crash, then going through that. I will just tell you this from all of us here — we are just impressed with her, she’s like a kind of superhero.”

Veatch was being treated for her injuries at Three Rivers Hospital where she was listed in stable condition.  Hospital officials said she was suffering mostly from exposure after spending two days in the wilderness.  Veatch’s father said she was “pretty banged up.”

The hospital added she suffered from rhabdomyolysis, a muscle disorder that was likely caused by an injury from the crash.

Officials are still searching for the crash site.