ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100074
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BETH MACY
SOURCE: BETH MACY
Bear is home.
He was sitting snugly on his stepsister Sabrina's lap last week as Vicki Catron, the foster mother who lost Bear and then fought to get him back, described seeing the 4-year-old again:
``We met at the church, and when he hit the door he came running through hollering `MOMMY!' and jumped into my arms,'' Catron said. ``You could definitely tell he knew where he belonged.''
Where Bear belongs has been the subject of intense scrutiny for the past two months.
From the time he was 6 weeks old until Oct. 28, Vicki had custody of the child, as well as Bear's sister Keyanie, who died of AIDS in May. Vicki and a number of her fans - including Bear's doctor, his teachers and many others who marveled at the care Vicki gave her children, especially Keyanie - were outraged by Roanoke social services' decision to remove Bear from Catron's home and place him with another foster family.
The reasons: Vicki's husband had left her; she was not yet divorced. Her finances were a mess. And case workers believed Bear would get better care from a more financially stable two-parent home.
In her 14 years of foster-parent service, Vicki had never questioned the system. But this time was different. She believed Bear had already lost too much: His biological parents, the only father he knew, his only sister.
She took her story to the media and, eventually, to Roanoke Circuit Court, where a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent Bear and investigate the case.
``It was very clear that this child was bonded to Vicki Catron and she to him,'' says lawyer Anne Edenfield, the guardian ad litem who recommended Bear be returned to Vicki. ``I was concerned with the psychological effect on a 4-year-old of removing him from the only mother he ever knew.''
A lawyer for 21 years, Edenfield says she's represented many foster children over the years, ``but never one so young that had suffered so many losses.''
Vicki also showed that she is trying, in the wake of her husband's departure, to improve her financial status by scrambling for work as a school-cafeteria substitute and a home-health aide/homemaker. And, in the end, she convinced Judge Richard Pattisall that not only is she fit to become Bear's mother, she already is Bear's mother.
On Nov. 25, the judge returned custody to Catron, referring the issue of Vicki's adopting Bear to social services in Bedford County, where she lives.
Says Ellen Weinman, the Salem lawyer who volunteered to represent Vicki: ``There are decisions you make with your heart, not just your head. And there's not room in [social services'] rule book for that.''
Both Weinman and Vicki feel for the Roanoke couple who kept Bear for a month and wanted to adopt him. Social services didn't tell them Vicki was contesting Bear's removal - they didn't know until they read it in the newspaper.
``They were trying to step in and give Bear a good home,'' Weinman says. ``They were not saying, `We're better than Vicki.' They got blindsided with this.''
As for Bear, Vicki says he continues to walk from room to room in her house, shouting, ``I'm home! I'm home!''
``He doesn't like for us to get very far away from him,'' she says.
* * *
Ronnie English is also home.
Actually, he's been home for four weeks, which is record time considering he had a kidney transplant Nov.6.
``I'm even making plans to get back to work,'' he said recently.
That's good news for the 130-plus customers on his Brambleton Avenue-area delivery route. Because, as my Oct. 31 column pointed out, Brambleton Avenue loves Ronnie English. In a big way.
When Ronnie's UPS colleagues organized a golf tournament to raise money for his dialysis treatments and other expenses, Brambleton Avenue businesses didn't just take out their golf clubs. They took out their checkbooks, too.
The checks are still coming, according to Ronnie. And so are the cards. And the phone calls. ``Last week, I got 168 phone calls in one day,'' he said, still amazed by the outpouring - and eternally grateful, too.
Recently two strangers appeared at his door, a minister and a real estate agent. Together they prayed for Ronnie then left, but not before handing him a card - with a $100 check.
Ronnie was not allowed to let them inside, however.
``Yes, I'm quarantined,'' Ronnie conceded. Told that his doctors would not approve of letting strangers into the house - and possibly jeopardizing his still-fragile immune system - Ronnie shrugged in his typical nice-guy way.
``OK, so they hugged me,'' he said, grinning. ``Come on, two people isn't that bad.''
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