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A Sister's Visit--The new group home is controversial because it takes children out of functional homes and gives them to strangers to take care of them. Spencer's parents have their hands full with two other children who require all their…

Up in the Morning--Gloria Smith helps out Spencer each morning and each evening. She is one of seven staff members at the new home who comes in round the clock to take care of the five children at the home. The children need constant attention and…

Who Are You?--'Who are you?' Spencer asks his reflection in the bay windows of his new group home house. 'Autistic children are often facinated with their own shadows and reflections,' says Spencer's case worker Gloria Smith. 'They are trying to…

Looking Out--While waiting for his morning school bus that takes him to his special school in Bloomfield, 7-year old Spencer looks out the front window of the group home with anticipation and apprehension. 'He still is a little frightened about…

A new group home for Autistic and Retarded children opened in the fall of 1991 in Bloomfield, CT. For parents who could not longer care for their children, the home was a god send. For the children, it was frightening, not a home. The new home is…

I've Come Back--'Tell her to come home if you see her. Tell her we know about the drugs, tell her the kids need to see their mother.' Damaris's sister Elizabeth said. A few nights later Damaris did come home. It had been three months since she had…

Back to the Streets--In June, Linda-Marie was born. By August, the mother of five was back on the streets working for cash the hard way, by prostituting her young body. Most of what she sold for $20 was oral sex. The addiction was so strong that…

Kiss Goodbye--Because she became addicted again to the drug she swore off earlier in the summer, Damaris lost her newborn baby. As Eddie steams at the prospect of any lost child, Damaris is unconsoleable and her sister kisses her goodbye. It will…

They've Taken My Baby--Just below the apartment where her mother is raising four of her children, Damaris, 22, weeps at the prospect of losing her newborn baby because she can't control her addiction. Moments after being ordered to give up the…

Child's Play--Children playing imitating adults. Damris's four year old daughter, Damris Jr. , plays junkie with a kitchen match. Emil and all of Edward and Damaris's children are in the custody of her mother. The grandmother does not allow drug…