A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler

This sure isn't your average homeless family story. No one can explain why some people don't want help but this story also points out there are a lot of people trying to help and that's a good thing

A better plan needed for 4-year-old panhandler
C.W. Nevius

Saturday, July 18, 2009


Little Gavin Mills, the 4-year-old panhandler who evoked so much sympathy and concern from San Franciscans, has been taken from his parents by Child Protective Services.

It is an incredibly difficult decision to take a child away from his mother and father, but in this case it is the right choice.

"Gavin deserves a chance in life," said Mary Long, who began a crusade to improve Gavin's and his mother Toni's life after seeing them at the Embarcadero BART Station. "He wasn't getting one being used as a panhandler tool by his chronically homeless mom."

City officials say the family was repeatedly offered beds, services and child care. But their offers, they say, were rebuffed, and people like Long kept seeing Gavin panhandling.


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