Helping aunt can cost kids benefits -Lower Hudson Valley (NY) Jounral News

Susan Elan
May 3

Offers of financial aid, food, clothing, toys and free babysitting have flowed in from readers touched by the struggle of Danielle Dagnone, 30, of Mahopac Falls to care for three of her sister's young children.

Dagnone, a single, working woman with no children of her own, became the legal guardian to her niece and nephews 17 months ago. Putnam's Social Services Department was about to remove the children from their parents. Dagnone stepped in to prevent them from being sent to foster homes as reported Sunday in The Journal News.

But accepting the generosity of the community may not be so easy. A spokesman for the state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance said donations to the children could jeopardize the welfare benefits they receive.

A report from the New York State Kincare Coalition issued this week said grandparents and the other relatives who are raising more than 400,000 children in the state do not receive the same services and financial help that foster parents do, although experts agree children do better with relatives.

"There's a mindset that it's up to family to take care of family," said Gerard Wallace, director of NYS Kinship Navigator, a statewide program operated by Catholic Family Center that provides information and resources to relatives caring for children. "There's not enough attention paid and resources dedicated by government to give family members what they need to get the job done."

Children generally go to live with relatives for the same reasons they go into foster care, Wallace said. They have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents, or the parents abuse alcohol or drugs, are deceased, mentally ill, incarcerated, or unable or unwilling to parent.

Dagnone's sister Nicole Goodwin, 36, a mother of five including the three Dagnone cares for, is in jail in Westchester County on a charge of criminal impersonation. Goodwin, of 4 White Road in Putnam Valley, is accused of trying to pass herself off as Dagnone. Goodwin is also a suspect in a four-month spree of residential burglaries in Putnam and northern Westchester counties.

Michael Goodwin of Patterson, the children's father, is trying to regain custody. The oldest lives with him. The second oldest child first lived with Dagnone but is now with the paternal grandmother.

Michael Goodwin referred a reporter to Richard Nunez, his legal aid attorney. Nunez declined comment.

Jeanmarie Marquardt, a Cortlandt lawyer who identified herself as the law guardian for the five Goodwin children, sent a letter late yesterday condemning the newspaper for publishing the names and photos of two of the children and accusing Dagnone of trying to garner sympathy and more money from DSS.

Dagnone said the three youngest children have the best chance of thriving if they remain with her in a stable environment. But on the salary of a school bus driver, providing for 22-month-old Kayla, Anthony, 4, and an 11-year old who asked not to be identified, has proved challenging. On weekends she delivers pizzas to earn extra income.

The high rent she pays for an apartment in Putnam County devours more than half of her monthly income.

As a single woman, she paid $800 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, utilities included. Dagnone and the four children continued to live in that apartment for five months. When they could no longer stand the crowded conditions, Dagnone moved the family to a three-bedroom apartment in Mahopac Falls where she pays $1,625 a month plus electricity, cable and hot water. She gets $300 a month in rental assistance from the county. Welfare provides a total of $899 a month in temporary assistance for four children. Dagnone expects that sum to be reduced now that one has moved out.

Michael J. Piazza Jr., Putnam's commissioner of the Department of Social Services, said he is prohibited from discussing individual cases.

As a foster parent, Dagnone could receive up to $459 a month for each of the two children under five and up to $640 a month for the child who is about to turn 12, according to 2007 foster boarding rates set by the state. The children would also receive a monthly clothing allowance and Kayla could get a $53 monthly diaper allowance.

Dagnone said she has asked the Department of Social Services caseworker how to become a kinship foster parent only to be told the department's goal was to reunite the children with their biological parents.

Wallace said counties throughout the state, faced with what could be staggering increases, discourage relatives from becoming foster parents.

In the meantime, individuals, some with little leeway in their own budgets, have offered help.

Dagnone's landlord John Vaccarino charges Dagnone somewhat less than market rate because of his admiration for her efforts to raise her niece and nephews. The Vaccarino family gave her bedroom furniture for the younger children.

"She does the right thing. She leaves early in the morning and then comes home and takes them to sports. The apartment is spotless. She's off one day a week and she spends it doing laundry. She's a mother and a half, and these are not even her kids," Vaccarino said.

Debbie Pasacrita of Yorktown, the mother of two grown sons, said Dagnone's story echoed the Herculean efforts of her stepmother to raise six children, only two of whom were her own.

"My stepmother kept us all together, otherwise we would have been separated," Pasacrita said. "She was only 19 when she married my father who had four kids."

Maureen Kunz of Congers said friends alerted her to Dagnone's story became of the similarities to her own. Kunz became the guardian of her close friend's two children within hours of her death in December 2001.

"It is difficult to take in children in an emergency situation when you are not financially or emotionally prepared to do it," said Kunz, now the mother of four. "I now work two jobs. It can be challenging to balance working with the physical and emotional needs of the kids. It would be beneficial if guardians were entitled to the same financial benefits as foster parents to ease the burden on the family."

Anthony Farmer, a spokesman for the state Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, said donations to the children could jeopardize their benefits but Dagnone, who does not receive welfare subsidies, could accept them.

In addition to welfare payments, the children get medical coverage through Medicaid. Child care is paid for while Dagnone works.

Rosemarie Bahr, head of the Putnam Community Action Program, said the Brewster-based anti-poverty agency would agree to collect contributions of rental assistance, and food, gas and clothing gift cards on Dagnone's behalf.

Dagnone said she is grateful for the support of friends and the community but is surprised that some have reacted negatively to her decision to tell her story.

"I didn't have all these bills and worries and responsibilities 17 months ago," she said. "I was free to come and go as I wanted. But I am willing to take care of my niece and nephews for as long as it takes to guarantee their safety and well being. I don't think people should judge me until they have lived a day in my shoes."