Woman Eases Transition for Neglected Kids

The abused and neglected children who enter the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services waiting room in North Hollywood probably don’t immediately notice an array of books on the sofa table or the freshly laundered stuffed animals strategically placed near a box of tissues.

In those first traumatic moments that the children await news of their fates--wondering in whose care they’ll end up and if they’ll see their parents again--creature comforts aren’t a priority.

But helping children make the transition into a safer environment is a priority for Marilyn Jones, 67, whose bundles of donated clothes--washed, pressed and packaged--and stacks of refurbished toys seem to magically appear just when they’re needed.

“Marilyn fits into a very elite group,” said Susan Jakubowki, regional resource coordinator for the family services department. “Although there’s no prestige or glamour in the work she does, she has made a castle out of our humble place.”

Jones, recently honored as a 1998 Los Angeles County Volunteer of the Year, helps match family-service social workers with volunteers who provide much-needed supplies for the caseworkers in the county’s Adopt-a-Child-Abuse Caseworker program.

The soft-spoken volunteer, who shuns the limelight, joined the program a little more than a year ago; her colleagues say she soon became the department’s guardian angel to the displaced children.

Her small touches, such as sewing designs on the sheets of the babies’ changing table and keeping a supply of note cards and puzzles on hand as gifts for the kids, have eased the burden of the social workers, who often serve up to 60 children at a time.

“These children touch my heart,” said Jones, the mother of five. “We all have too much in our homes. I just thought this would be a productive use of my time.”

Jones spent more than 1,000 hours last year filling caseworker requests for everything from refrigerators to pairs of socks, and still found time to make 72 Easter baskets for one caseworker’s clients and provide gifts and cakes for children whose birthdays usually go unacknowledged.

Jones says her happiest job was presenting 100 prom dresses last spring to the caseworkers’ teenage clients, who were also treated to shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and fancy hairdos.

“These kids didn’t create their situations,” Jones said. “Our job is to give them self-esteem and make them good members of the community they’ll join one day.”

A Utah native, Jones settled in Canoga Park with her husband, Bill, nearly 30 years ago, when their neighborhood was surrounded by walnut and orange groves, and where she maintained a vegetable garden on their half-acre property.

After her children graduated from Chatsworth High School and moved on to college and careers, Jones says, she turned her attention to community service, from which she says she derives great satisfaction.

“I feel my life has been blessed. I want to share what I have.”

Her colleagues couldn’t be happier.

“Having volunteers [like Marilyn] in the department is like having heroes on hand,” said Schuyler Sprowles, the department’s director of public affairs. “It makes a difference of a lifetime for the kids.”

The 24-hour, toll-free L.A. County Child Abuse Hot Line number is (800) 540-4000.

Personal Best is a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please send suggestions on prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.