LOS ANGELES — There’s no time to cry or even pack when foster kids are told it’s time to move on. So it is for 7-year-old Marques and 11-year-old Maurquon, who stuff their clothes into trash bags and get ready to say goodbye to their foster mom of two years, Cynthia Mendenhall.
“Big Mama raised me for my whole life,” Marques said.
“Every morning when I wake up, she gives me a hug and says ‘I love you,’” Maurquon said.
The boys spent that Friday morning preparing to reunite with their idol, Terance Mann of the Los Angeles Clippers, who had mentored the boys as part of a program by the Social Justice League to support foster youth.
“Sister, this is not an exaggeration, she’s honestly the best guardian those kids could have. She’s known around Watts because of the community service that she does. They absorb all of that just by living with her,” said the group’s founder, Max Taw. Taw quit his job as a corporate consultant after he watched the video of George Floyd dying in Minneapolis and created the league to help kids like Marques and Maurquon.
Studies show Black children are overrepresented in the U.S. foster care system, accounting for 14% of the overall population but 23% of all kids in the system, according to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
For Marques and Maurquon, their plans to play basketball changed Friday when Mendenhall suddenly got a call that social workers with the Department of Children and Family Services were on the way to take the boys to a new home.
Mendenhall, known as "Sister Soulja" in Watts, is considered a pillar in the Imperial Courts housing projects. On Monday, the community, including the boys’ biological parents, rallied outside the DCFS office in Carson calling on the agency to return the boys to Mendenhall. They’re hoping an online petition will put pressure on DCFS.
Earlier this month, DCFS notified Mendenhall the kids would be removed, alleging she allowed “unmonitored visits with the parents” and was unable to move forward with adoption. Mendenhall said she instructed the boys not to talk to their parents, but they live across the street from the Watts Empowerment Center where the boys attend recreational activities and they sometimes cross paths.
Mendenhall would like to adopt the boys. She filed paperwork to keep Marques and Maurquon at least until their next court date, but was told it reached the agency one day too late.
The boys’ social workers said she could not publicly comment when reached by a Spectrum News 1 reporter. DCFS Spokeswoman Amara Suarez sent a statement:
“The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services is committed to working with families, relative caregivers, and resource parents to ensure the well-being of children. Social workers seek to help strengthen families so that they may safely remain together. While removing a child from their home is sometimes necessary to ensure the safety of children and youth, it is used as a last resort when other reasonable interventions cannot prevent or eliminate the need to take the child into protective custody. When placement is necessary, the department does its best to place children with relatives or others close to the family to reduce trauma to the children. Our department’s mission to protect children is one we share with our community partners, and we continue to collaborate toward a shared vision of ensuring every child is able to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home.”
Taw, the Social Justice League founder, said DCFS did not take into consideration how well the boys were doing in Mendenhall’s care when they made the decision to suddenly move them. While George Floyd’s death launched calls for police reform, Taw says the foster system needs an overhaul as well.
“Black and Brown families are victims of stories like these. Maurquon and Marques are not unique in the case they are facing,” Taw said. “There’s a lot of families who have lost their kids but are invisible.”
