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Squabbles delay bills to help kids.

Article Excerpt
Maxine Johnson's first day in prison in 2005 remains seared in her memory. She remembers the shackles on her legs binding her to another prisoner and the guards barking commands at inmates during the intake process.

But mostly she remembers her fear of the unexpected as she began her three-year stint and her visceral anxiety about the four grandchildren for whom she was the legal guardian. The grandchildren, ranging from 11 to 17 years old, had gone back to live with their mother, Johnson's daughter. She had a gambling addiction, and Johnson didn't think she could handle the responsibility. "It was horrible," Johnson says about the first day. "I was worried about my grandchildren."

Johnson did not hear about any services for her grandchildren that day or during the nine weeks she was in the intake unit. Not until a year later, in fact, did she learn about transportation services provided by Lutheran Social Services of...

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