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WEST CAPE MAY- It was a small group that assembles at the West Cape May Volunteer Fire Department on Friday night. Fewer than 25 people had showed up by the start of the meeting at 7:30 p.m. but they crossed the cultural and racial spectrum.
People who might not otherwise interact with the evening were hugging and pledging their mutual support.
The meeting was organized by individuals who believed that they have been victims of the state’s Division of Youth and Family Services. (DYFS)
Every one of them had some horror story relating to the state agency and every one of them had believed they were alone until recently.
The meeting was called to order by Jerry Hall, after which those assembled bowed their heads and were led in a prayer by the chaplain of the NAACP, Melvin Williams.
“Father God,” he intoned, “you are the protector of the poor, the orphaned and the oppressed. The people gathered together in this room need your help,”
Hall, who was featured in Part 1 of this newspaper’s series called “Families in Crisis with DYFS,” then addressed the group and told them that they have come together to give one another mutual support and comfort. But more than that, he told them their purpose in forming this group was to secure their constitutional rights and those of their children and to protect their children from the abuses of perhaps “well meaning but misguided DYFS agents”
Hall stated that he believed that many of the DYFS workers were doing was right but they were terribly mistaken in their judgments.
Chaplain Williams disagreed, saying, “What they believe in is power. They believe they have the power to do what they want whether it’s right or wrong.”
When they had finished their opening remarks, individual people (only those who gave permission are having their names used) stood and told their personal DYFS stories, including two sisters who had suffered unimaginable beatings and abuse after being placed in foster care by DYFS.
Some if those present were no longer in the DYFS system because their children were grown or removed and living with a relative, but they said they came because they wanted to, as one women put it, “save some other family from this DYFS nightmare,”
When the catharsis ended, Hall got back to work explaining what the goals and needs of the organization were. VOCAL, an acronym for Victims of, Child Abuse Laws. Their mailing address is PO box 640, Cape May, NJ 08204.
After setting a date to meet in October, white, black and brown, rich and poor, young and old, hugged, exchanged phone numbers and expressed joy at having met and promised each other support.
A middle-aged women in the back said it was a good beginning and quoted Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
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