Wheelchair Ramp for Foster Child

Re “Red Tape Nearly Pulls Family Apart,” Jan. 3: I was horrified to read that state licensing officials actually threatened foster parents Jerry and Sally Freeman with taking away their severely disabled 3-year-old because their existing wheelchair ramp needed upgrading. Since finding good foster parents for children without special needs is difficult enough, why would this agency jeopardize the placement of one with cerebral palsy? The financial cost of $12,000 for the ramp has to be cheaper than putting this child in a “facility.” It is definitely cheaper than the emotional cost of separating him from the only family he has ever known.

Why did the Freemans, who have cared for 245 children since becoming foster parents, have to go through the stress of faxing, calling and e-mailing officials before someone finally offered funding from a “special needs” account? Why weren’t these dollars offered to them from the beginning? These poor people should be canonized for their selfless efforts, not given a more difficult task.

KRIS DRUMMOND

Fountain Valley

*

My vote for a ticker-tape parade, the Silver Star, the keys to the city and a 21-gun salute: The great Sally and Jerry Freeman, who have saved more lives and given more love and plain hard work than any other two people.

I humbly say, “Thank you.”

BARBARA SAMUELS

Oceanside

*

Ah, big government at its finest. I refer, of course, to the $12,000 wheelchair ramp for the disabled child in Canoga Park. Perhaps this “specialized ramp” provides access to the third or fourth floor, receives and transmits e-mail, gives advice on investments, or perhaps serves as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle?

In my lifetime, L.A. County could buy a mile of road (in the Antelope Valley) for $12,000.

DAVID KIRKPATRICK

Lancaster