Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center Helping Children's Fathers To Not Support Their Children Tampa Florida

1. I had just been divorced and I needed a place to stay until my family could wire me some money for a bus ticket back home.This was in 1969. I went to the Salvation Army because this was in December and very cold. There were two men kissing in the doorway when I walked up and one of them turned out to be the doorkeeper guy. He told me that the Salvation Army did not allow women to stay there, it wasn't made for women to stay there and if I didn't have kids, I could go out and peddle my a*s on the street corner if I wanted a place to stay. The laughing at me, he slammed the door in my face and locked it. I spent the night at a hospital waiting room.

2.This time, I was in an abusive relationship and had to jump out of the car. In Austin, Texas at that time, 2006, the public transit service would give anyone a ride to Salvation Army for free who wanted to go and so I went. I was glad I had a small sleeping bag in my tote --learned from experience that if the spouse blew up at me, I might have to run and who knew where I would end up.

They signed me in. Don't see too many of the uniform wearers around from the Army. The personal hygiene items that are donated to them are kept in a caged enclosure and you the client must pay for them. High prices for penniliess folks. Ladies from the penitentiary who have noplace else to go when they are paroled are in here as are psychiatric people who can't afford their meds and the state hospital won't take them in and there are former hookers and exotic dancers and those who are still doing those things who are coming in and tossing sandwiches around at the rest of us they somehow obtained.  Lots of thieves here too.

They issue you a sleeping pad for the floor and a blanket. once you hit the sleeping pad --which is one of the most comfortable things I have ever slept on -- it is easy to go to sleep and I almost missed it when they turned the heat way down and was glad I had my own blanket. The sleeping pad on the floor was really nice and I almost got a sound sleep. Even when I kept waking up because  some wild-eyed broad is going to rip you off or beat you up while you sleep then rob you.

In the morning, I wanted a shower but barely had time to use the restroom and then be up and out of there. You can go to the kitchen and you get a shot glass of orange juice, a filthy prefabricated egg concoction with squares of mystery meat mixed in with rodent hair and other filth and stale bread. There were some spoiled biscotti with mold on them but I didn't eat them. I was very hungry and so I did drink two shot glasses of orange juice and wondered what happens to all of the food and beverages that are donated to the Salvation Army.

It seems like everything in Austin,Texas is a shuck and jive operation,

To the response that "you should all be ashamed of yourselves" - don't make me laugh - shame based therapy is not what AA is about at all.

The whole "addiction is a disease" view point is to remove the shame, make the addict realize that that addiction is a disease, and move on ( to sobriety, hopefully ) to a better way of life.

Salvation Army does help people, and then of course, many times the Sal V helps some people avoid jail, avoid paying child support, avoid being held accountable for their actions.

I have personally seen men in the "worship center" nodding off from heroin abuse. And AA would say ( and I agree, somewhat ) that at least they were not using while they are sitting in the worship center. Okaaaaay....

I am not blaming Salvation Army for anything but helping some men avoid responsibility. Don't shove religion down my throat, my children and I do not have to "make a decision for 'christ' or rub ashes on our foreheads or mis-quote scripture as you likely do on a daily basis.

Don't pray for me to "find jesus," and don't stand on a soapbox and pschaltz about how great the Sal V is, the Salvation "Army," with their uniforms and their fake rank and "the Major this" and "the Major that" please spare me.

Don't blame me because I am a woman and choose to wear slacks when the weather is cold ( that's a no-no with the Sal V ! ) Oh, she's a sinner, she's a harlot, she's - a- wearin' pants ! Heavens to bitsy, she even wears jeans !

I make good decisions; not using drugs, not staying married to a drug addict, not relying on welfare ( oh, that's right, it's called TANF, sorry ! ), not collecting food stamps, not having my hand out, or in the Sal V's case, ringing a bell relentlessly asking for donations, until people are ready to pull their own hair out of their head.

To the response that "you should all be ashamed of yourselves" - don't make me laugh - shame based therapy is not what AA is about at all.  The whole "addiction is a disease" view point is to remove the shame, make the addict realize that that addiction is a disease, and move on ( to sobriety, hopefully ) to a better way of life.

Salvation Army does help people, and then of course, many times the Sal V helps some people avoid jail, avoid paying child support, avoid being held accountable for their actions.  I have personally seen men in the "worship center" nodding off from heroin abuse.  And AA would say ( and I agree,  somewhat ) that at least they were not using while they are sitting in the worship center.  Okaaaaay....

I am not blaming Salvation Army for anything but helping some men avoid responsibility.  Don't shove religion down my throat, my children and I do not have to "make a decision for 'christ' or rub ashes on our foreheads or mis-quote scripture as you likely do on a daily basis.   Don't pray for me to "find jesus," and don't stand on a soapbox and pschaltz about how great the Sal V is, the Salvation "Army," with their uniforms and their fake rank and "the Major this" and "the Major that" please spare me Don't blame me because I am a woman and choose to wear slacks when the weather is cold ( that's a no-no with the Sal V ! )  Oh, she's a sinner, she's a harlot, she's - a- wearin' pants !  Heavens to bitsy, she even wears jeans !

I make good decisions; not using drugs, not staying married to a drug addict, not relying on welfare ( oh, that's right, it's called TANF, sorry ! ), not collecting food stamps, not having my hand out, or in the Sal V's case, ringing a bell relentlessly asking for donations, until people are ready to pull their own hair out of their head. 

The Salvation Army is a fantastic organization that does help many people.  I knew a man who entered a Salvation Army program and it helped him turn his life around.  Programs, like Salvation Army rehab centers, only work if the person recieving the help wants to change thier life.  Don't blame the Salvation Army for someone elses poor decisions.  I get tired of reading these reports by people that didn't get what they want so they blame the organization.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.  The Salvation Army is a phenominal organization.  Blaming the Salvation Army for deadbeat dads is like blaming a fork for someone being fat, or better yet - blaming the gun for the murder. 

The bottom line is that alcoholism, drug addiction, sex addiction, gambling, materialism, and all other forms of pervision stem from a spiritual imbalance. AA's solution (using humility to God, confession of sin, reconciliation of sin, prayer and evangelization) has proven to be the only defense of this spiritual affliction.

The Salvation Army makes it no secret the spiritual power is the trinity through Jesus Christ.  If you don't want their solution - go somewhere else.  Better yet, go somewhere else first - when the SHTF (stuff hits the fan) maybe then you will be ready for the solutiuon - a path to freedom of all pervision through an organization that has a real solution.

Peace be with you,

An American.

Many men who live at / off the Salvation "Army" are just playing the game for a free place to live with three squares a day. The me that are in "rehab" there leave the property, and when they return they have to submit a breathalyzer. They get a false negative by smearing peanut butter on the roof of their mouth, and that hides the alcohol from the breathalyzer. Seems too simple to be true, but it is ! And many of the men there are heroin addicts, and they go to methadone since methadone is what they consider to be a "treatment." Then after six months, they are "cured" !

The reality is they have made contacts with other alcoholics and addicts, essentially expanding their score base. The "Major" and the other people who run the Salvation "Army" are fake "God" worshippers, all "bless you" and that. I took the kids to see their dad who is allowed to have two hours per week visiting them at a "supervised" visitation center, and the "Major" at Salvation "Army" does not even watch them, the dad takes them outside where he chain smokes.

I have tried what you call "Legal Aid." In Tampa it's Bay Area Legal Services, and I went to one of their clinics and was told they would not take my case. At $300 per hour for family attorneys, it is not exactly in my financial means to hire an attorney.

Thanks for the advice about the religion. I go to court Thursday July 17th to ask for child support (the dad has been released from rehab and is back at work as a metalurgical chemist and he makes decent money ). I am looking forward to this upcoming hearing, and I hope moms and dads everywhere realize that child support is the right thing to do ( I am not talking alimony or crazy amounts of child support, just a fair amount for two kids ).

Get yourself a legal aid attorney and complain about how your children are being FORCED to visit their father in a Rehab facility where they are having a G*d that you don't believe in forced upon you. Tell them that you do not share these religious beliefs and do not want your children subjected to them.

You might want to say that there unsavory influences and pedophiles at the Rehab Center because there probably are. Rehab is the last stop before worse sanctions are taken....

You also might say that you do not want your children having religion forced upon them since it is your First Amendment Right. Every lawyer who has ever sat in a law class knows about the First Amendment !

How long does your husband have to be incarcerated in the Rehab Center?

Was he put there by the court?

Do they have Alcoholics Anonymous meetings there because that is the main way many people have to stop drinking alcohol.

There are a lot of missing pieces to your story...

A den of alcoholics is NOT an appropiate environment for children to be exposed to anyway.

If he is an alcoholic, you need to go to Al-Anon which works VERY WELL!

IF HE KEEPS GETTING DRUNK OVER AND OVER AGAIN, YOU NEED TO GO TO AL-ANON TO SAVE YOUR OWN SANITY! And think about your kids! YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR CHILDREN THINKING THAT DRUNK BEHAVIOR AND REHAB ARE OK PLACES TO BE. Surely you want them to aspire to something besides a "wino farm" which is where a lot of these con artists sober up between drunken sprees.

Alcoholics Anonymous is usually the only thing that can stop someone from drinking! I suggest for your own survival and that of your children that you go to Al-Anon meetings!

I have alcoholics in my own family and YOU HAVE TO LOOK OUT FOR YOURSELF and it hurts and it is not nice but alcoholism will DESTROY entire generations, especially if you are Hispanic, Native American because it took out a lot of members of my mother's own family.

If the Alcoholic cared about the family, he or she would stop drinking and not end up in Rehab. Rehab is sometimes the LAST stop before jail or prison.

Sometimes alcoholics do NOT stop drinking and they die when the liver can not filter out the toxins anymore...It is a really horrible death. I have seen a person die from it but will spare you the details. Just wanted to let you know what you are in for if your better half will NOT stop drinking alcohol and you decide to stay around.

It is an illness. There is no cure for it.
Your children could inherit the ALCOHOLIC disposition gene if they drink!
Do NOT subject your children to this "Snake Pit" environment!