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Wagons to Waivers - Segment 7: Growing up in the Institutions

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Reba McEntire: Many of Oklahoma's children who grew up

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in institutions were wards of the state.

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They were either given up by their families

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because their parents couldn't care for them,

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or they were removed from the home because of abuse or neglect.

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Barbara Easlon: My step dad beat me with a belt over the top of the head.

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He wanted me to try to spell my last name,

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and that's how he took it out on me.

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I started learning my name a little bit, my first name.

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Made him so mad that I couldn't do anything else,

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and so he took it out on me.

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And that's when the court took me and my brother,

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and they came and took us.

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Kevin Parker: My case manager said "Your real parents,

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your momma and your grandparents don't want to see you."

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I said "Ok, fine. They don't want to see me, that's fine."

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Ever since then, I quit asking for my real momma.

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I was out there for eleven years, just about, since 1975.

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I got out in '86, so it was like home for me kind of,

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until I got out in the real world, just about.

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Reba McEntire: Life at the institutions certainly wasn't the same

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as growing up in the family home.

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But for some, it was the only home they knew,

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and staff became their family.

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Kevin Parker: It was kind of strange, big time,

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because you didn't have no privacy at all.

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No privacy at all. You used to do the same thing.

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We were on a time schedule.

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We'd eat lunch at the same time, go to bed at the same time,

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and there was no privacy. We shared rooms.

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We used to go to bell choir practice.

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We used to ring those bells and stuff. It was fun.

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We had programs, sometimes we'd be on a program

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to ring those bells, so it was fun.

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It was a little bit of good and bad stuff.

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Like I said, I enjoyed the people, and I miss the people.

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I've still got friends I still talk to all the time.

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Like I said, I'm very thankful for what Hissom has done for me.

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If it wasn't for Hissom, ain't no telling

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what I could've ended up with.

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Barbara Easlon: When you grew up in a big setup like that

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on campus with different people,

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you had good days and you had bad days,

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like any normal person would have.

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They had all different kinds of people living together.

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Some were verbal, some were hearing impaired,

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some were in wheelchairs and very disabled.

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But I think most of them got along pretty good.

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People had to get along in that situation,

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or they wouldn't have been able to live if everybody had a fight there.

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There was times that I hated it out there,

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and there were times that I didn't like it out there,

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because people picked on me.

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Of course, back then you didn't take things like you do nowadays,

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people making fun of you.

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You'd rather put your fists up and fight anybody,

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and I went through all those years. I know what it's like.

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Reba McEntire: In the days before state funded community services,

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when adults left the institution, they were on their own.

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Barbara Easlon: If I had a problem and I needed help with that problem,

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they said "We can't help you no more. You're on your own."

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Back then they'd just put you out, and you were on your own.

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You'd call out there and ask them if somebody would help you,

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they'd say "No, we don't have time,

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and you don't live out here at the school."

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That's the way they did for the people that lived at the state school.

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I ended up fending for myself.

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Later on, I started learning about good people helping.

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Reba McEntire: While Barbara lived in the state school,

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she had become close with one of the staff and her family.

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After Barbara moved into the community,

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that family supported Barbara when she needed help,

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and welcomed her into their home on holidays.

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Barbara Easlon: There's so many people,

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when they got out of the school like we did,

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we didn't know where to find friends.

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It was hard to find friends.

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Reba McEntire: Barbara also found friendship and support

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through the local YWCA. At that time,

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women could live at the Y as long as they worked.

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Barbara lived there for two years,

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until she was able to move into her own apartment.

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Even after she moved in her own place,

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Barbara continued to receive financial and moral support

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from her friends at the YWCA,

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an association that continues today.