Two of the four sisters found raising 16 children in a dilapidated West Side two-flat last week said they’ve spent six days telling friends and family they’re not another “Keystone Avenue” case.
They are not abusive or neglectful, they say, but simply poor.
“Our kids are healthy, and some of them are overweight,” said Loretta Warren, 29, eldest of the four sisters who lived with their children at 4950 W. Ohio St., on the far West Side.
Chicago police and the Department of Children and Family Services converged on the home on July 18, investigating a tip of child abuse.
DCFS caseworkers have testified in court that they found 16 children living in a home that was partially burned out, had no hot water, no working refrigerator and broken toilets. The only food items they found were a box of pancake mix and a few cans of evaporated milk.
“We’re just like a lot of other poor folks in Chicago, trying to feed ourselves, put clothes on the kids’ backs and go on about living,” Warren said.
She said they didn’t leave because they didn’t think the apartment was all that bad. In fact, if police hadn’t disrupted their lives, she said, they would still be living there.
The Warrens inevitably have been compared with the 19 children found living in filth at 219 N. Keystone Ave. in February by police investigating a drug tip.
Since then, the Keystone children have been placed in foster homes and their mothers-also four sisters-will face criminal charges in the fall to determine if the kids should be taken away permanently.
“I keep telling all these people who see me on the street or at the store that this ain’t no Keystone. I don’t know if they believe me,” said Delores Warren, 28, and a mother of three of the 16 children who lived at the Ohio Street address.
Cook County Circuit Judge William D. Mattox agreed with the Warren sisters last Friday, ordering that the mothers regain custody of their children from DCFS as soon as they find apartments. The mothers were ordered not to return the children to the Ohio Street two-flat.
The decision was based largely on physical examinations, which found no evidence of child abuse. The children, ages 9 months to 13 years, and the four mothers are staying with relatives. DCFS is to help the mothers find new housing.
Loretta Warren said she and her sister returned to the home Sunday to tidy up, pick up some clothes and remove a few items of furniture.
“It ain’t as easy as people think to get on and support these kids on public aid,” Loretta Warren said. In all, the four sisters get about $3,000 a month from public aid and perhaps an additional $1,000 a month in food stamps.
“We’ve got expenses,” Loretta Warren said. “When the kids were taken away they were wearing $40 gym shoes. DCFS returned my kids to me dressed in rags, and now they tell me all the kids’ clothes are lost.”
Delores and Loretta Warren blamed the home’s condition on poor upkeep by its owner. “I ain’t going to fix nothing that I didn’t break,” Delores Warren said.
Inside, parts of the flooring are worn away and roaches dart from one crack to another.
Every wall has layers of dirty handprints. The kitchen ceiling is falling down and parts of the walls are missing.
The Warrens’ apartment is the only one of 25 or so homes on the block that emits a powerful stench that can be smelled on the street.
Neighbors said they had noticed the smell. “I saw the kids out there playing in the front, and wondered why they were always so dirty,” said Timothy Savage, 25, who often visits a friend across the street from where the Warrens lived.
Lizzy Harris, 55, said she understands how hard it is to raise kids on public aid, especially with young children. “I raised nine kids and when you go to find an apartment, people just won’t rent to you,” she said.
