The following article was written and published by a Homeless Advocate, by the name of Matthew Barnes. He used to his blog and internet resources to attempt to make a plea about the situation of the authorities and the indigent by writing and publishing favorable articles. I really can not commend him enough for the beautiful and well written article that he submitted. It is is my hopes to bring attention to this article, as it states exactly what the issues at hand are and what we would like the city officials to claim responsibility for. You can help in the campaign to bring awareness to this subject by copying and posting this article and sharing it over the internet. It is my hope that I can gather together the right thoughts, feelings and words to catch the attention of reporters, in an effort to make some change! Thank you so much Matthew Barnes for your words of encouragement and support in this matter!
Authorities Fail To Locate Next of Kin for Indigent Deceased
by: Matthew Barnes
It is
often assumed that homeless people have no living family or that if they do,
they have given up on caring about them long ago or perhaps they never did. It
is certainly true that homeless people have often become disassociated from
their relatives and this can occur for many reasons. It could be that the individual has been outcast but it is also just as
likely that the homeless individual feels such deep-rooted shame that they find
it necessary to disassociate themselves voluntarily. No one likes to be a
burden. It should therefore not be unreasonable to suppose that a significant
proportion of the homeless population has someone, somewhere who is wondering
where they are and what has become of them.
Indeed, it is widely accepted that a large number of registered missing persons
could be accounted for by those experiencing homelessness.
In early February this year, we posted an article here to aid in an appeal to locate Joyce Darlene Patterson. She was known to suffer from mental illness and had been missing from her family home for more than a decade and was believed to be homeless. Her daughter, Miranda and her family had been searching desperately ever since. It took some effort to accomplish, but Joyce was officially registered as a missing person with state authorities. Miranda kept in regular contact with authorites and feverishly pursued an internet campaign in an all-out attempt to gather information she hoped would lead to locating her mother and ensuring that she received the help that she needed. Sadly, not long after we published that article Miranda received verification that her mother had passed away almost a year earlier and had been interred at White Tanks Cemetery in Maricopa County, Arizona.
When a person dies indigent, the body is usually interred by the local authority with no frills at the cost of the taxpayer. Under these circumstances how much effort do the authorities ever really make to trace living relatives, even if only to find someone who might pick up the bill? You might think that since the city and ultimately, the taxpayer, is funding the burial that at least reasonable effort would be made. Not always the case it seems and certainly not in this particular instance.
According to the newspaper, Sandusky Register, Sergeant Bryan Chapman of the Phoenix Police Department and boss of investigating officer, Detective Eric J. Cosgriff, is quoted as claiming that the Phoenix police did all that they were required to do in finding Patterson. The newspaper also cites that Roger Conventry, a spokesperson for the Maricopa Fiduciary which is responsible for burying the indigent, claimed that caseworkers used a database to try to track down relatives and sent out letters, but those letters were either never answered or the respondents said they were not related to Patterson. How is it then that Miranda never came to be notified of her mother's death until a year or more later? It seems that a catalog of errors took place. Joyce Patterson had died at Phoenix Hospital (Banner Samaritan) but somewhere between the hospital and the funeral home that handled the burial, her date of birth and social security number were both transposed or recorded incorrectly. This apparently made tracing Joyce Patterson's next of kin difficult.
Well, not that difficult in reality. While all these caseworkers were exhausting databases and sending letters, again at the taxpayers expense, a simple google search for 'Joyce Darlene Patterson' would have yielded 236,000 results containing photographs, personal details and contact information for next of kin. When Miranda finally resorted to utilizing the services of a private investigator in February, it took them less than 48 hours to discover what had become of Miranda's mother. Of course, we would all like to believe that this is an unfortunate but isolated event. However, I strongly suspect that it is not only not unique but probably relatively commonplace. In fact, Miranda has already received an email from a lady who discovered her father had been buried in the very same cemetery under similar circumstances. There appear to have been no such mistakes with social security numbers in this instance. The simple truth is that when someone dies who is apparently homeless, no one expects there to be a family that cares and very little effort is made to attempt to trace one. The relevant authorities will no doubt claim that every reasonable effort is made but when a simple google search is all it would have taken to unearth the necessary information, that claim is unconvincing to say the least.
White Tanks Cemetery is an extremely depressing place. It is plot of dirt in the middle of nowhere. It has a fence and a solitary bench. The sign says 'No Private Markers.' Miranda and her family may not erect a headstone in her honor or even inscribe the word 'mother' on the small brass marker that denotes her location.
Miranda strongly believes that due to the failings of the authorities that dealt with her mother's search and burial that her body should be disinterred and cremated at the city's expense so that she may be brought home and a proper service conducted and a respectful monument be erected in her memory. The cost of her disinterment is believed to be in the region of $3000. So far, authorities have denied responsibility and refused Miranda's request. You can read more of her struggle on her blog, My Mother Does Not Belong At White Tanks.
Dealing with the disappearance and subsequent death of a loved one is tough enough. Miranda and her family do not deserve the indignity they are now being made to endure. The same is true of the many other families that must be out there facing similar circumstances. The message to the authorities is simple and clear: do the right thing, help bring Joyce Darlene Patterson home.
In early February this year, we posted an article here to aid in an appeal to locate Joyce Darlene Patterson. She was known to suffer from mental illness and had been missing from her family home for more than a decade and was believed to be homeless. Her daughter, Miranda and her family had been searching desperately ever since. It took some effort to accomplish, but Joyce was officially registered as a missing person with state authorities. Miranda kept in regular contact with authorites and feverishly pursued an internet campaign in an all-out attempt to gather information she hoped would lead to locating her mother and ensuring that she received the help that she needed. Sadly, not long after we published that article Miranda received verification that her mother had passed away almost a year earlier and had been interred at White Tanks Cemetery in Maricopa County, Arizona.
When a person dies indigent, the body is usually interred by the local authority with no frills at the cost of the taxpayer. Under these circumstances how much effort do the authorities ever really make to trace living relatives, even if only to find someone who might pick up the bill? You might think that since the city and ultimately, the taxpayer, is funding the burial that at least reasonable effort would be made. Not always the case it seems and certainly not in this particular instance.
According to the newspaper, Sandusky Register, Sergeant Bryan Chapman of the Phoenix Police Department and boss of investigating officer, Detective Eric J. Cosgriff, is quoted as claiming that the Phoenix police did all that they were required to do in finding Patterson. The newspaper also cites that Roger Conventry, a spokesperson for the Maricopa Fiduciary which is responsible for burying the indigent, claimed that caseworkers used a database to try to track down relatives and sent out letters, but those letters were either never answered or the respondents said they were not related to Patterson. How is it then that Miranda never came to be notified of her mother's death until a year or more later? It seems that a catalog of errors took place. Joyce Patterson had died at Phoenix Hospital (Banner Samaritan) but somewhere between the hospital and the funeral home that handled the burial, her date of birth and social security number were both transposed or recorded incorrectly. This apparently made tracing Joyce Patterson's next of kin difficult.
Well, not that difficult in reality. While all these caseworkers were exhausting databases and sending letters, again at the taxpayers expense, a simple google search for 'Joyce Darlene Patterson' would have yielded 236,000 results containing photographs, personal details and contact information for next of kin. When Miranda finally resorted to utilizing the services of a private investigator in February, it took them less than 48 hours to discover what had become of Miranda's mother. Of course, we would all like to believe that this is an unfortunate but isolated event. However, I strongly suspect that it is not only not unique but probably relatively commonplace. In fact, Miranda has already received an email from a lady who discovered her father had been buried in the very same cemetery under similar circumstances. There appear to have been no such mistakes with social security numbers in this instance. The simple truth is that when someone dies who is apparently homeless, no one expects there to be a family that cares and very little effort is made to attempt to trace one. The relevant authorities will no doubt claim that every reasonable effort is made but when a simple google search is all it would have taken to unearth the necessary information, that claim is unconvincing to say the least.
White Tanks Cemetery is an extremely depressing place. It is plot of dirt in the middle of nowhere. It has a fence and a solitary bench. The sign says 'No Private Markers.' Miranda and her family may not erect a headstone in her honor or even inscribe the word 'mother' on the small brass marker that denotes her location.
Miranda strongly believes that due to the failings of the authorities that dealt with her mother's search and burial that her body should be disinterred and cremated at the city's expense so that she may be brought home and a proper service conducted and a respectful monument be erected in her memory. The cost of her disinterment is believed to be in the region of $3000. So far, authorities have denied responsibility and refused Miranda's request. You can read more of her struggle on her blog, My Mother Does Not Belong At White Tanks.
Dealing with the disappearance and subsequent death of a loved one is tough enough. Miranda and her family do not deserve the indignity they are now being made to endure. The same is true of the many other families that must be out there facing similar circumstances. The message to the authorities is simple and clear: do the right thing, help bring Joyce Darlene Patterson home.
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