Generation Lost by Maddie McGarvey

Generation Lost FotoVisura A two-year-old boy with wild blond hair screams in the middle of a parking lot when his mother tries to pick him up. “No I wanna stay with grandma and sissy! Please don’t make me go with you!” he screams with tears running down his face. His two sisters with... Maddie McGarvey http://c0875922.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/43423.medium.jpg http://www.fotovisura.com//user/MaddieMcGarvey/view/generation-lost 12/15/11 A two-year-old boy with wild blond hair screams in the middle of a parking lot when his mother tries to pick him up. “No I wanna stay with grandma and sissy! Please don’t make me go with you!” he screams with tears running down his face. His two sisters with matching blonde hair cry and beg their mother to let him stay. His grandmother watches from a few feet away and knows she can’t do much about it. She has custody of two of her daughter’s children but not the youngest boy. According to the United States Census, there were 6.6 million children living with a grandparent in 2008. 482,000 of these grandparents have incomes below the poverty line. Lorrie and Lee Casto are part of that statistic. They are raising their daughter Amber’s three children, Sonya, Paige, and Seth. Sonya is 9-years-old, Paige is 4 and Seth is 2. Sonya, Lorrie’s oldest granddaughter, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after her mother’s boyfriend beat and emotionally abused her for years. “He beat her so hard one day that his class ring was stamped into her face for a week,” Lorrie said. “I knew I had to get those kids away from her.” Lorrie is currently working on taking her daughter to court to get custody of her youngest grandson, Seth. Amber doesn’t want to let Seth go and often takes him away from his sisters and grandparents for weeks at a time. He comes back to Lorrie filthy but ecstatic to be back with his grandparents and sisters, where he knows he will be taken care of and safe. “I would do it again for the kids to make sure they are safe,” Lorrie says. “They mean the world to me.” This reality of grandparents raising their grandchildren is an increasing trend in America. With more parents being involved with drugs, going to prison, and being unfit to raise their children, grandparents are left to look after the kids. This is an important issue to document because many grandparents have to sacrifice their golden years, medication, and life savings to be parents again. With almost no funding offered, many grandparents have to go back to work at minimum wage jobs to support their families. Funding from the Fotovisura Student Grant would allow me to continue documenting kinship care across Ohio. The funds would be allocated towards mileage to and from shoots with local families, and would enable to me spend a few long weekends photographing an African-American family I have been in touch with in Cincinnati, Ohio, a 350 mile round trip. Remaining funds will be allocated towards digital backup and any incidental meals/motel rooms necessary while I work on this project.

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Shelby Vassar hangs on a tree at her grandmother's house in Pennsville, Ohio. Shelby, her siblings and cousins all live at their grandmother's house after their parents lost their home and jobs. The grandkids often play in their grandmother's yard alone to entertain themselves.

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Sonya gets off the school bus at her grandmother's house only to be yelled at by her mother, Amber. Amber attempts to be a larger part of her children's lives, but is unfit to be a parent. She doesn't have custody of her two daughters, refuses to get a job, and is constantly living in and out of homeless shelters.

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Luke Rawson, 5, touches his great-grandmother Helen's face while saying "I love you too much grandma". "There's no such thing as loving me too much," Helen replies. Helen and her husband Martin are currently help raising their great-grandchildren and have four generations living under their roof.

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Sonya, right, yells at her mother Amber after Amber told her mother to change her youngest son Seth's clothes after he peed himself. "You're his mother," Sonya screamed. "Start acting like it!"

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Paige reaches out for her grandmother Lorrie's hand as a family friend takes her into Oak Grove Wesleyan Church in Nelsonville, Ohio. Paige is very attached to her grandmother and clings onto her whenever possible. Lorrie takes care of Paige and her two siblings Seth and Sonya because their mother Amber is too irresponsible. Their father is currently in prison for molesting a 12-year-old boy.

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Shelby Vassar, left, is tugged with a chain by her cousin Andre and sister Kaitlyn outside of her grandmother's home in Pennsville, Ohio. The children often have to entertain themselves because their parents aren't around and their grandmother has to watch six other children.

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Lorrie Casto braids her granddaughter Sonya's hair before she goes to bed. Lorrie is currently raising her three young grandchildren because their mother Amber is unfit to be a parent. “They were living in shambles with Amber. There was garbage all over their house and rats chewing through their electrical system. Sonya would beg me to take her home with me,” Lorrie says.

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Children at Oak Grove Wesleyan Church learned a song for Mother's Day titled "I love Mommy" and sung to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me". However, Lorrie Casto's grandchildren changed the lyrics to "I love Grandma" because of their hatred for their mother and because their grandmother is the one who raises them.

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Lorrie Casto tries to put her granddaughters Paige and Sonya to bed after a long day but their bug bites keep them awake for most of the night. Lorrie is currently working on taking her daughter to court to get custody of all of her grandchildren. “I'm always tired by the end of the day but I would do it again for the kids to make sure they are safe,” Lorrie says. “They mean the world to me.”

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Lorrie Casto comforts her mother-in-law at Kimes nursing home in Athens, Ohio. Lorrie is currently raising her teenage daughter, 3 grandchildren and looking after her ill mother-in-law.

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Sonya plays with a hula hoop in her grandmother's front lawn. Sonya, who is 9, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from living with her mother and her boyfriend who abused her for years. "My mother doesn't know how to be a mom. She's no mother to me," Sonya says. Sonya is currently being taken care of by her grandmother.

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Lorrie Casto attempts to rock her grandson Seth and granddaughter Paige to sleep after a long summer day.

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Lee and Lorrie Casto stand in the kitchen with their daughter Britney and their granddaughter Sonya. Lorrie and Lee have been raising their three grandchildren for years because their mother Amber can not.

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Lee Casto sits in his living room as his grandchildren Paige and Seth climb onto him. Lee and his wife Lorrie are raising their three young grandchildren.

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Sonya Casto lays on her bed with a bag covering her head. Sonya suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after living with her mother in shambles and being abused by her mother's boyfriends. Lorrie, her grandmother, does the best she can to deal with it. "Sometimes she's just too much to handle and I get mad at her," Lorrie says. "But I can't. This isn't her fault. She didn't ask for that abuse."

A two-year-old boy with wild blond hair screams in the middle of a parking lot when his mother tries to pick him up.

“No I wanna stay with grandma and sissy! Please don’t make me go with you!” he screams with tears running down his face. His two sisters with matching blonde hair cry and beg their mother to let him stay. His grandmother watches from a few feet away and knows she can’t do much about it. She has custody of two of her daughter’s children but not the youngest boy.

According to the United States Census, there were 6.6 million children living with a grandparent in 2008. 482,000 of these grandparents have incomes below the poverty line. Lorrie and Lee Casto are part of that statistic. They are raising their daughter Amber’s three children, Sonya, Paige, and Seth. Sonya is 9-years-old, Paige is 4 and Seth is 2.

Sonya, Lorrie’s oldest granddaughter, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after her mother’s boyfriend beat and emotionally abused her for years. “He beat her so hard one day that his class ring was stamped into her face for a week,” Lorrie said. “I knew I had to get those kids away from her.”

Lorrie is currently working on taking her daughter to court to get custody of her youngest grandson, Seth. Amber doesn’t want to let Seth go and often takes him away from his sisters and grandparents for weeks at a time. He comes back to Lorrie filthy but ecstatic to be back with his grandparents and sisters, where he knows he will be taken care of and safe.

“I would do it again for the kids to make sure they are safe,” Lorrie says. “They mean the world to me.”

This reality of grandparents raising their grandchildren is an increasing trend in America. With more parents being involved with drugs, going to prison, and being unfit to raise their children, grandparents are left to look after the kids.

This is an important issue to document because many grandparents have to sacrifice their golden years, medication, and life savings to be parents again. With almost no funding offered, many grandparents have to go back to work at minimum wage jobs to support their families.

Funding from the Fotovisura Student Grant would allow me to continue documenting kinship care across Ohio. The funds would be allocated towards mileage to and from shoots with local families, and would enable to me spend a few long weekends photographing an African-American family I have been in touch with in Cincinnati, Ohio, a 350 mile round trip. Remaining funds will be allocated towards digital backup and any incidental meals/motel rooms necessary while I work on this project.