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© 2011 Maddie McGarvey

Shelby Vassar hangs on a tree at her grandmother’s house in Pennsville, Ohio. Shelby and her siblings live at their grandmother’s house after their parents lost their home. Their grandmother has raised them off and on their entire lives. Sonya gets off the school bus at her grandmother’s house only to be yelled at by her mother, Amber. Amber attempts to be a larger part of her children’s lives, but is unfit to be a parent. She doesn’t have custody of her two daughters, refuses to get a job, and is constantly living in and out of homeless shelters. Chris Vassar holds his nephew Robert Joy while his mother, EJ rolls cigarettes while seven months pregnant. EJ and her family all live in Carol Joy’s home in Pennsville, Ohio. Children at Oak Grove Wesleyan Church learned a song for Mother’s Day titled “I love Mommy” and sung to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me”. However, Lorrie Casto’s grandchildren changed the lyrics to “I love Grandma” because of their hatred for their mother and because their grandmother is the one who raises them. Lee Casto, left, hugs his grandson Seth, while his sister Paige looks in through the door. Although Amber, their mother, is Lee’s stepdaughter, he always treated her like his own daughter and cares for her children. Robert Joy plays on a stack of mattresses in his grandmother, Carol’s house. Carol puts beds wherever they will fit to accomodate all of her family now living in her home. Shelby Vassar sits on her grandmother’s porch. Shelby often gets frustrated with her family and the limited space she has to live in. Sonya, right, yells at her mother Amber after Amber told her mother to change her youngest son Seth’s clothes after he peed himself. “You’re his mother,” Sonya screamed. “Start acting like it!” Paige reaches out for her grandmother Lorrie’s hand as a family friend takes her into Oak Grove Wesleyan Church in Nelsonville, Ohio. Paige is very attached to her grandmother and clings onto her whenever possible. Lorrie takes care of Paige and her two siblings Seth and Sonya because their mother Amber is too irresponsible. Their father is currently in prison for molesting a 12-year-old boy. Shelby Vassar, left, is tugged with a chain by her cousin Andre and sister Kaitlyn outside of her grandmother’s home in Pennsville, Ohio. The children often have to entertain themselves because their parents aren’t around and their grandmother has to watch six other children. Lorrie Casto braids her granddaughter Sonya’s hair before she went to bed. Lorrie currently takes care of her three young grandchildren because their mother Amber is unfit to be a parent. Nine toothbrushes are held in a cup at Carol Joy’s home in Pennsville, Ohio. Carol took in her children and grandchildren when they had no where else to go. I never thought I€’d be raising children again, I thought I was done,€ Carol said. œBut when they are with me in my house, I know they are safe. Sonya plays with a hula hoop in her grandmother’s front lawn. Sonya, who is 9, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from living with her mother and her boyfriend who beat her for years. “My mother doesn’t know how to be a mom. She’s no mother to me,” Sonya says. Paige clings to her grandmother Lorrie at their home in Carbondale. Lorrie takes care of her daughter’s three children. Paige, 4, is extremely affectionate to her grandmother and avoids contact with her mother, Amber. Carol Joy sits on her front porch with her grandchildren Robert and Kaitlin. Carol looks after her six grandchildren while their parents aren’t around. Lorrie Casto teaches her grandchildren how to feed the chickens in her front yard. Sonya runs into her grandmother’s house when it started to rain. Sonya has been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after her mother’s boyfriend beat and emotionally abused her for years. “I hate my mother,” Sonya said. “She let him do this to me.” Shelly Vassar tries to get her son, Chris’, attention at her mother’s house in Pennsville, Ohio. Shelly and her family moved into her mother, Carol’s, home after they lost their trailer. Carol gave up her bed and sleeps on the couch downstairs so her eight other family members have a place to stay. EJ Joy sits in her bedroom in her mother-in-law Carol’s home. EJ has three children, is seven months pregnant, and has no other home to call her own.