Builder aids foster mom whose home was condemned

Friday, Aug. 31, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Greg Dohler Delores Smith’s home in Accokeek is razed on Monday to make way for construction of a new house at the same location. Area businesses are donating time and materials to build the new home for Smith, who has been a foster mother to 125 children. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Christopher Anderson Delores Smith makes lunch for two of her adopted daughters, Gina, left, and Leanne, right. Smith is living in her mother’s home after a persistent oil leak forced her own house to be condemned.

For almost 40 years, Delores Smith has worked to save the lives of children, including some unwanted babies dropped at the doorstep of her Accokeek home.

Smith, 66, was evicted from her home after furnace oil leaked from the tank in the winter of 2003 and left it condemned. Smith moved out in April 2003.

When Terry Barnes of Waldorf heard Smith’s story, he was more than eager to help.

‘‘This woman is an incredible woman. This is one special lady,” said Barnes, who is rebuilding Smith’s home. ‘‘One of those babies could have been me.”

The community has come forward to help Smith, and 35 percent of supplies of what is needed for constructing the 1,992-square-foot home had already been donated by Tuesday afternoon.

‘‘Several people are donating,” said Barnes, who learned of Smith’s situation through her son, who serves with him as a member of the Southern Maryland Business Network.

Volunteers have offered to do labor for the roofing, siding and painting, and electricians have volunteered their services.

Barnes, owner of Barnes Builders Inc., demolished Smith’s home Monday. The Maryland Department of Environment gave $19,500 for the demolition work through a grant, but Barnes is donating his time and will not receive compensation. The money will go toward other demolition fees.

Bill Hocker, president of Southern Maryland Business Network, said the 48-member organization, with members primarily in Charles County, will help Smith out in all possible ways.

After Smith’s home was condemned, she sued the oil company in Prince George’s Circuit Court. ‘‘The jury found [the oil company] negligent,” said Paul De Santis, an attorney who represented Smith. ‘‘But they did not award damages.”

Since then, Smith moved to a vacant old farmhouse on Livingston Road in Accokeek that had belonged to her deceased parents. ‘‘It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The energy bill is sky high,” Smith said.

Smith became a foster mother in 1970, while she was providing day care. ‘‘My aunt talked me into it,” she said. ‘‘She told me, ‘You are so good at taking care of children, why don’t you become a foster mom?’”

Smith is one of dozens of people in the county who have fostered more than 100 children over the years, according to Ransom Washington, spokesman for the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services.

‘‘One thing is we look at your willingness,” Washington said. ‘‘Then we look if you are financially stable and not doing this just to receive payments.”

Other necessary formalities, he added, include fingerprints, a background check, fire safety check of the home and a working telephone.

Over the years, Smith adopted three children no one else was willing to adopt because of their disabilities. The now-grown children still live with Smith. She also raised three children of her own.

Smith said she knew she would have her house rebuilt, but is not sure exactly where the money is going to come from. She purchased the home in 1978.

‘‘Terry Barnes, he’s going to clean up and rebuild,” she said. ‘‘I have been through a whole lot. I need my house. I really do need it.”

E-mail Ahmar Mustikhan at amustikhan@gazette.net.