Thread: What about the AMERICAN families being separated?

I'm so tired of the SOB stories about illegal immigrant families being separated that when I came across this story I had to post it. We should be seeing articles about these people! Not the ones who shouldn't be here in the first place. How many of these people lost their jobs and have been put in this situation because of foreign labor and outsourcing. My own family had to leave Michigan several years ago because of the lack of jobs. Now my cousins are leaving. Our family had been there since the early 1800's.

Families separate, with no reunion date in sight, as job hunt sends spouses, relatives to other states
by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal
Monday March 02, 2009, 4:55 PM

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Tara Provost and her five young children share a cramped bedroom in her grandparents' ranch home.

Some 630 miles away, Provost's husband Gerald falls asleep in a lonely hotel room in Mission, Kan., near his job at a General Motors plant, missing his wife and kids.
Flint Journal extras Handling an economic separation

"A lot of them are so young and they're hitting all the stepping stones when they're growing up," he said in a telephone interview.

The Provosts are living in two households because of the economy.

"Sometimes you've got to do things you don't want to do to make it," said Gerald, 38.

They're among a growing number of workers who, because of Michigan's struggling job market, are taking jobs out of state, sometimes as far away as California and Texas.

Many families can't join Mom or Dad in a new location because they can't sell their house here for what they owe.

And unlike military families who face separation sometimes regularly, many of these families don't know when they'll be reunited for good, said Richard Wampler, professor and director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Michigan State University.

"We're hoping by Easter that everyone will be back together," said Tara Provost, 24. "If not by then, we're hoping at the end of the school year."

The Provosts moved to Kansas in February 2008 when Gerald transfered from the General Motors Truck Assembly Plant in Flint. The couple wanted a stable paycheck and left the truck plant just before it went on layoff for a few months due to the American Axle strike.

In late October, the Provosts welcomed daughter Lilian, just weeks before learning the home they were renting in Olathe, Kan. was being foreclosed.

With GM's viability uncertain, the economy falling and not wanting to get tied into a long-term lease, the couple packed up the minivan and moved Tara and kids (Michael Skaggs, 6; Katelynn Skaggs, 4; Joseph Provost, 2, Abigail Provost, 1 and infant Lilian Provost) back to Flint.

Gerald also has a son Luke Provost, 7, who lives in Flushing.

The Provosts arrived on Christmas Eve and Dad left again for Kansas in early January.

The Provosts are looking for a house to rent or buy in Kansas, but are awaiting word on whether GM gets additional federal funding before proceeding.

Tara and Lilian went to Kansas for a Valentine's Day weekend visit, but the couple aren't sure when they'll see each other next.

And while the older children understand some of the situation, the younger children are confused and often ask for Dad, Tara Provost said.

For now, nightly phone calls, periodic Web cam chats and sending artwork the kids make for Dad keep them interacting.

That's one of the most important things to do if you are faced with economic separation, Wampler said.

"The hardest thing probably is trying to manage contact and reassurance," he said. "It's going to feel like a divorce for the kids."

Wampler said kids often feel responsible for parents separating and need to be reassured that Mommy and Daddy are OK and that the absent parent will call.

Former Burton resident Richard Sadler, 22, left Genesee County and his 89-year-old grandmother who relies on his assistance because he was unable to land a steady job or graduate school offer in Michigan.

"She is fortunate to have strong family and church ties, but has relied on me for additional help getting to the store, to doctor's appointments, and to church, as well as for emotional support," he wrote in an e-mail to The Flint Journal.

The December 2007 University of Michigan-Flint graduate is attending the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, which is funding his graduate studies in geography.

Sadler has been able to make twice-monthly trips to the Flint area and hopes eventually to return to Flint.

But Dawn Milliken, 43, doesn't think she'll be able to return to Michigan and work here.

Milliken, who owns a house in Lapeer, has been living in York, Pa., since June after finding a computer aided drafting job there.

She's now covering expenses for two households because she can't find work to pay all her bills in Michigan and can't sell her house, she said.

She first left in March 2005, when she took a job in Ohio, and commuted home on the weekends. Her daughter, then a high school junior, stayed behind.

She worked at jobs in Ohio until she found a job in mid-2007 in Michigan. Milliken said she was ecstatic that she could work here, even though the drive to the job was 94 miles one way.

But she was laid off and started job hunting out of state again.

Now, Milliken tries to make it back to Lapeer every two to three months. The hardest thing is being away from her family.

"I have a little nephew that I haven't seen yet," she said in a telephone interview.

Milliken fills her spare time in Pennsylvania by doing things on her own, playing pool with a friend and spending time with her Yorkie, Tigger.

"I take my dog for lots of walks," she said. "I'd be really bored, really lonely without him here."

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http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.s ... _reun.html

Life, you should hear mine

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