[Flagdu] great write-up about our own David Bearden

[Sherrill O'Brien]

Hello all,

Here's a really well written article which appeared in yesterday St.
Petersburg Times.  It features our FLAGDu Board member David Bearden and the
difficult but rewarding work he does caring for foster kids.  His Fidelco
guide dog Upton is also given top billing!  Please read on.

Sherrill

No ordinary dad, he cares for foster kids while legally blind - St.
Petersburg Times
            By Dan DeWitt, Times Columnist
            In Print: Wednesday, March 3, 2010


                  David Bearden is led by his guide dog, Upton, across State
                  Road 50 east of Brooksville. Bearden, his son and two
foster
                  kids make the daily walk.
                  [MAURICE RIVENBARK | Times]
                  Guide dog Upton and David Bearden, 52, who is legally
blind,
                  are featured in a book that looks at Bearden’s remarkable
life
                  as a foster parent.
            A 9-year-old boy ran into his house after school Monday
afternoon,
            hugged a man he called "Dad'' and broke the news that he needed
            permission to go on a field trip Friday.
            "How much is that going to cost me?'' asked the father, David
            Bearden.
            "Nothing,'' the boy said. "We're just going to the park. And
we're
            walking.''
            The familiarity and affection between the adult and the child
seemed
            ordinary, at least for a happy family. So did the knee-jerk
worry
            about money, and the child's excitement about getting out of
class
            for a few hours, even if it was just to the county park a few
blocks
            from his school, Eastside Elementary, and his house in Hill 'n
Dale.
            Here's what is not ordinary: Bearden, 52, is the boy's foster
            father, not his legal one. The boy is one of three children who
live
            with Bearden now and is one of dozens who have passed through
            Bearden's house over the past five years, some of them just for
a
            few days.
            And Bearden, whose German shepherd guide dog, Upton, lay quietly
by
            his feet when the boy walked in, has been legally blind for 21
years.
            Mostly because of his work as a foster parent, Bearden is one of
            several vision-impaired subjects in a new book, Trust the Dog,
about
            the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. That is the 50-year-old
nonprofit
            organization that trained Upton and provided him to Bearden two
            years ago.
            Funny how it sometimes takes an outsider to help us fully
appreciate
            our neighbors.
            This newspaper has written a lot about Bearden's public work —
            fighting for his rights as a blind individual and as former
            president of the National Federation of the Blind for Hernando
and
            east Pasco counties.
            In years past, he insisted that criminal charges be filed
against a
            neighbor whose dog attacked Bearden's previous guide dog, Isaac,
and
            against a Brooksville businessman who tried to bar Isaac from
his
            convenience store.
            Bearden has petitioned — without much success, he said — for
better
            transportation for blind and disabled Hernando residents. He has
            even lobbied in Tallahassee for the rights of blind Floridians.
            But we haven't written much about Bearden's personal life, the
main
            focus of the chapter about him in Trust the Dog.
            Bearden, a former hospital worker, contracted an infection in
his
            eyes when he was emptying a bag of medical waste in 1989, he
said.
            It left him completely blind in one eye and with only 26 percent
of
            his vision in the other.
            His wife departed not long afterward. With the occasional help
of
            his mother, Margarita Romo, executive director of the nonprofit
            Farmworkers Self-Help Inc. in Dade City, he reared three
daughters
            mostly by himself.
            "I never saw those three girls when they weren't all spiffy, in
cute
            little hats and cute little dresses,'' Romo said. "I never saw
them
            dirty or when they looked like they were starving.''
            So, by the time Bearden's oldest daughter, Cristyn, had reached
her
            teens, he had the experience to take in other children.
            And he had the opportunity. Cristyn had a friend whose parents
            periodically abandoned him at a Brooksville runaway shelter.
            And he really wanted work, even nonpaying work.
            "I can't stand to sit around all day doing nothing,'' Bearden
said.
            "It's like being in prison when you don't have transportation.''
            Since 2004, when he received a state license, he has taken in
            children whose mothers abused crack or alcohol during their
            pregnancies. He has taken in children who had been beaten by
their
            parents or ridiculed for being openly gay. His adopted son,
Malcolm,
            15, was blinded in one eye after being shot with a slingshot as
a
            toddler.
            "The kids Mr. Bearden works with are some of our most
challenging
            kids,'' said Nicole Clevinger, a supervisor with Kids Central,
which
            monitors foster care in Hernando and other nearby counties. "He
            provides structure for those kids. He doesn't give up on them. 

And
            the kids who are placed with him really become his family.''
            How does a blind person keep order in a house full of children,
some
            of them teenagers with serious behavior problems?
            First, with the exception of one temporary placement, he accepts
            only boys. "I can't watch kids whose hormones are flying,'' he
said.
            Then he makes sure that there are things to do: the park, a
            vegetable garden in the back yard, art supplies so the children
can
            draw. Malcolm, for example, has notebooks full of skillful
drawings
            in the Japanese animé style.
            Bearden can hear when children are watching banned television
            programs in their rooms. With the help of a scanner that lights
and
            magnifies the screen of a laptop, he can check the history of
Web
            sites visited and block the inappropriate ones.
            Finally, there's Upton.
            "He lets me know if someone leaves the house when they aren't
            supposed to,'' Bearden said. "And if I can't find a child, and
he's
            been around them long enough, he can find them for me. Sometimes
            he's found kids as far away as the park.''
            Upton also has a central role in the family's daily ritual — the
            walk to the Hess convenience store at the corner of State Road
50
            and Spring Lake Highway. Sometimes it's just for a soda. On
Monday,
            they planned to eat dinner at the Godfather's Pizza there.
            Bearden is thankful he has a peaceful group of kids now —
Malcolm
            and two boys, ages 9 and 14, whose names Kids Central asked that
we
            not print. They are good students and all get along.
            Bearden and the youngest boy walk together. The two teenagers
hang
            back, talking about what their classmates said in school that
day.
            With the guide dog leading the way, flawlessly following
commands
            and keeping a course along the side of the pavement, they don't
look
            ordinary. But they do look like a family.


            [Last modified: Mar 02, 2010 08:24 PM]