Maxine Cramer is a 24-year-old multiracial female who identifies as bisexual. She has three children all under the age of four - Joseph (3), Timothy (15 months), and Noa (6 months). Maxine is a single parent to all three children. She lives in public housing and receives government assistance, but it is not enough to cover all of their expenses. Maxine tried to work multiple jobs to earn the money they needed to survive, but had difficulty finding consistent, reliable, affordable daycare. After Joseph was born, Maxine turned to sex work. She has three long-term customers that are all married men. Maxine’s mother, Joanne, recently learned of Maxine’s occupation. She is concerned for the safety of her grandchildren especially because one of the men visits Maxine at the home. Without talking to Maxine, Joanne decides to report her daughter for child neglect and endangerment.

 MAIN CURRENT EVENT: Joanne Johnson, 49 African American female, was recently told by Maxine’s neighbor that Maxine was engaging in prostitution. Joanne already had deep concerns about the housing community that Maxine lived in, River Oaks, given the fact that Maxine had a previous prostitution charge and seemed to make questionable choices about the men in her life based on her environment. Joanne has attempted to talk with Maxine about these issues in the past, which always results in Maxine cutting off contact with Joanne for a period of time. Concerned that the children will not have her as a resource, Joanne decided to report Maxine for child neglect and endangerment without notifying Maxine first. 

When the Child Protective Investigator shows up at Maxine’s home, Maxine is devastated. She is angry because she cannot believe someone has reported her. She is currently not speaking to Joanne and believes it could be her, but cannot confirm.  Also, Maxine is afraid if she shares honestly about her work she will lose her children. In addition, she fears one of her johns’ responses if she is reported. The main issues presented: child welfare, the legality of work, mental health, and poverty.

Precipitating Events:

Maxine grew up in a single-parent household with her mom Joanne. Joanne was often distant and withdrawn. Maxine would tell her friends that her mom never told her that she loved Maxine and rarely if ever hugged her. Joanne did provide for Maxine. Maxine was grateful for her nice clothes, her neighborhood, and the fact that at least Joanne was present. Maxine had never met her father. When Maxine was about 8 years old, she had asked her mom about her dad & Joanne said that he was not part of their lives, then she quickly changed the subject. Later that night, Maxine heard Joanne in her bedroom crying. Maxine felt terrible and never brought him up again.

Maxine did well in school, but after graduation, she decided to take a gap year. She was not sure what career path she wanted to take and she did not want to spend money on college until she knew exactly what she wanted to do. During this time, she got a job waiting tables at the nearby Army base Fort Campbell. While she works there she meets Carter Dixon who is enlisted in the Army. They date on and off for about a year before becoming exclusive. After her gap year, she decides she wants a degree in management and enrolls in the local community college. She quits waiting tables and gets an on-campus work study. She and Carter are closer than ever although they do not see each other regularly due to conflicting schedules. One night at dinner, they begin to talk about marriage and a family. Maxine badly wants a family of her own. They decide to start having unprotected sex.

A few months after her 20th birthday Carter tells Maxine that he is to be deployed to Afghanistan. He asks her to marry him before he deploys, but Maxine declines. She wants their day to be special, not a rush ordeal. Carter leaves a few days later & Maxine never sees him again. Carter Dixon dies the same month he arrives in Afghanistan. He was one of three servicemen killed in action (KIA) at a roadside bombing in Ghazni Providence, Afghanistan in November 2018. Joseph, Carter’s son, is born eight months later. Due to the fact that Maxine and Carter were not married, as well as, unable to match DNA - she is unable to claim benefits for Joseph.

After Joseph was born, Maxine struggled with daycare and providing for him. Joann offered to help, but would often critique where Maxine lived, the fact that she had quit college and Maxine’s current job. Maxine detested fighting especially with the only parent she had, so she often withdrew to give her and her mother space. Over time, those periods became longer and longer. Sometimes Maxine and Joanne did not talk for months. This saddens Maxine because her mother is very kind and loving to her grandchildren - something she never received from Joanne.

It was during one of these periods when Joanne and Maxine were not speaking that Maxine took a job working as a cocktail waitress at one of the local strip clubs. When Maxine was fired for repeated tardiness due to childcare issues, a friend suggested an alternative way to earn money where child care would not be an issue. Maxine picked up sex work with three long-term customers. All three men are married. One of them, Jim Ricotta,  is the father of both Timothy and Noa. He has repeatedly promised to leave his wife, yet never does. When Maxine has tried to establish paternity or cut him out of her life, he has threatened to harm Joseph if she does not do as he says.

Scenario A: Maxine meets with the CPI and provides full disclosure. She shares that she has been working as a sex worker and explains the dynamic of her relationship with one of her johns who she knows is the father of two of her children. She states that he is the only customer she engages in unprotected sex with. She also states she fears for her oldest son’s life. The Investigator contacts the U.S. military about the government’s responsibility to Carter Dixon’s heir, Joseph Cramer.

Scenario B: Due to fear of retaliation from Timothy and Noa’s biological father, Jim Ricotta, Maxine misses multiple scheduled meetings and home visits. The children are removed from the home. Maxine’s mother, Joanne, petitions the courts for custody of the children. She is supportive of allowing Maxine supervised visitation with the children.

Scenario C: Upon learning that Maxine is under investigation for possible sex work, Jim Ricotta, Noa, and Timothy’s possible biological father contact the courts requesting a paternity test and if he is confirmed the father - custody of the two children. He states that his marriage has had issues, but they have sought marriage counseling and would like to raise the two boys if they are indeed his biological children. He is open to the boys visiting their brother, Joseph, but would not want them to have visits with Maxine due to her line of work. 

Maxine is a 24-year-old multi-racial female who identifies as bi-sexual. She is currently engaged is sex work currently with three clients. One is the father of two of her children. She lives in public housing and receives government assistance, but it is not enough to provide a quality life for her children, so she engages in prostitution to provide for them. One of the main expenses is although she breastfeeds Timothy, he is colicky and often needs a costly special formula that is not approved through WIC.

Maxine and her mother Joanne have had a difficult relationship. Maxine believes that her mother resents her for having to drop out of college and that deep down Joanne does not love her. 

Joanne Cramer is a 49-year-old African American woman who works for a local insurance company. She is the office manager and enjoys working at the agency, but it is not very fulfilling. Growing up Joanne excelled in school and graduated at the top of her class. She had been accepted at every college she has applied to and offered a full scholarship at two - one in New York and one in Georgia. She had dreamt of working on Wall Street, so she decided to attend college in NYC. Once there, she fell in love with the city and would often spend hours just walking around the different boroughs. She excelled and graduated with her B.A. in Finance with a perfect 4.0 GPA. The college offered her a partial scholarship to complete her MBA and Joanne agreed. She moved off-campus with her former roommate, Mary, and took side jobs doing accounting and people’s taxes. Everything was going well, but she was lonely. Outside of her roommate, Mary, and a few fellow classmates she did not really know anyone in NYC. 

One night, Mary invited her to a party on Long Island and Joanne decided to attend. She had a great time, so when Mary was ready to leave Joanne said she wanted to stay and would take the Metro home. The next morning Joanne woke up in an alley with her pants off and her shirt ripped. She was sore and there appeared to be slight bruising on her thighs. She put her pants back on and did her best to cover herself. She walked out of the alley and immediately bumped into a woman passing by. The woman happened to be a rape crisis worker and took Joanne to the nearby hospital. Upon testing it was shown that Joanne had been given GHB and had been sexually penetrated. After some encouragement from the rape crisis worker, Joanne filled out a police report. The police investigated but came up with nothing. The semen and blood found were not in a database. The host of the Long Island party, Aaron Jones, stated that the party was quite large and he did not know everyone in attendance. In addition, he did not see Joanne leave the party but assumed she left alone because she did not leave when Mary did.

Joanne reported that she began feeling deeply depressed and was unable to remember anything, yet she felt immensely guilty. The police questioned her multiple times asking the same questions: Why did she not go home with her roommate? Who did she talk to? Was she sure she did not remember anything? Eventually, it became too much. Joanne withdrew from school and moved out of her apartment with Mary. Once living on her own, she stopped eating regularly, slept for long periods of time, and stopped taking phone calls from friends and family. After two months, she finally started to return phone calls. Her mom, Geraldine, told her that she had been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and asked her to come home for Christmas because it may be Geraldine’s last. Joanne felt immense guilt for not taking her mom’s calls and agreed to come home. When she got home, her mother was placed in hospice two days later. Geraldine said her last wish was for Joanne to go to the doctor to make sure HER health was okay. Joanne did and a few days after her mother passed, Joanne found out she was pregnant. Although devastated by what had brought her to this point, she was also happy. Out of all the bad that had happened, she found a reason to live and in a strange way - an attempt to make sense of all the senseless trauma.

Joanne changed her lifestyle immediately. She scheduled OB/GYN appointments, took vitamins, played classical music, and read stories out loud every night for the little one in her womb to hear. She landed a temporary, but good-paying job at a local insurance agency, and started looking at buying a house. Joanne thrived during her pregnancy and could not wait for little Maxine to be born.

Maxine’s birth was relatively quick and painless. Joanne was in labor for a little under four hours. Maxine was born healthy, but suddenly Joanne was not. Joanne’s first look at Maxine was filled with something she never expected - anger and rage. Maxine looked nothing like Joanne. From the first moment, the nurse put Maxine in Joanne’s arms she could tell that the man who raped Joanne must have been White. 

Joanne eventually was officially diagnosed with postpartum depression (PPD). Although a new field at the time and still much to learn, Joanne was relieved that her struggle to bond and anxiety was ‘temporary’ and eventually she would have a strong relationship with Maxine. Unfortunately, that never happened. As Maxine grew older it was clear that she was bi-racial. Even worse, Joanne felt each day Maxine looked more and more like the man who had raped her, Aaron Jones. Joanne never reported this information to the police in NY. She had heard that in some states even rapists have a right to see their child and she was not willing to take that chance. She struggled to have a relationship with Maxine - she did her best to provide for her and make sure Maxine had everything she needed.