‘Mother hen,’ 10, has earned a break
After bouncing around different households for years, 10-year-old Alexia and her three younger siblings, ages 9, 7 and 4, found a loving, stable home with their grandmother, aunt and two cousins.
The eldest sibling has been the glue that holds the young family together. She makes sure the kids take their showers, brush their teeth and wake up for school. She also walks the older two children to school and from school to their second home, the Boys and Girls Club.
“She’s like a mother hen,” said Susan, their 20-year-old cousin who lives with the kids and helps the aunt care for them. They asked that only the family’s middle names be used.
“They all listen to her. If Alexia says ‘no,’ they know it means no,” Susan said. “She’s the small, skinny one. Jonathan is 9, but he’s bigger and taller, and he’s still scared of her. He respects her.”
The bright, beautiful Alexia demonstrates similar skills outside the family. “She’s a leader, one of the kids we can count on,” said Norberto Oropez, program director of the club that provides the kids a fun, safe place to hang out when they aren’t in school. “All the staff have noticed her abilities.”
The club is sending the fifth-grader to an Idyllwild camp for a week with help from the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Fund. She earned it, Oropez said. Her siblings will be staying home.
The children’s parents divorced five years ago. “Their mom was the best mom you could imagine,” until she got into drugs and began leaving the kids with different relatives for days at a time, the cousin said.
One of the mother’s sisters took in the children and became their legal guardian.
Their mother recently visited after serving a jail term for auto theft. She told them she was going to look for a house so they could be together again. Alexia believes her mom, but Susan is skeptical.
One thing she can tell Alexia for sure is what camp did for her. Oropez recalled that Susan was a bit of a troublesome high schooler before she spent two summers at camp. “Because of my great experience, I want her to have one too,” said the cousin.
It will be the first time she will be away from her siblings for an extended time. She spends most of her time looking after them. At camp, she can focus on herself.
About 11,000 children will go to camp this summer thanks to the $1.4 million raised last year.
The annual fund-raising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.
Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make credit card donations, visit www.latimes.
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