News Releases:

HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUEE REUNITED WITH CHILD

(May 11, 2006 – Memphis, TENN) While the Center for Missing and Exploited Children continues to report that all children separated from their parents during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been located and returned to family members, there are still children missing. The Law Office of Florence M. Johnson in conjunction with Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention recently reunited a single mother with her five-year-old son that was missing since Hurricane Katrina.

Delisha Smith, 23, a native of Kenner, Louisiana, has cerebral palsy and is a five-time gold medalist from the 1997 Winter Special Olympics. Smith has two young sons, Michael Leavings, Jr., 5, and Kelly Charles, 2. On the Saturday before Hurricane Katrina, Anthony Leavings aka Michael Leavings, Sr., told Smith that he was going to take Michael to get a hair cut. As the weather worsened, Smith telephoned Leavings, Sr. and he told her that he was going to keep Michael. Smith thereafter lost telephone service and any way to contact Leavings, Sr. The roof was torn from her apartment during the storm. Smith swam out of the apartment complex to safety with her youngest son, Kelly, clinging to her side. Smith walked a number of miles before flagging down a motorist who picked her up and drove her to the New Orleans Airport. Smith was flown to Memphis, Tennessee and had not seen Michael since August 26, 2005.

Smith filed missing person reports with the Jefferson Parish Louisiana Police Department, The Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Memphis Police Department to no avail. However, through the efforts of Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention and Attorneys Florence M. Johnson and Pamela Brown, Leavings, Sr. was tracked to Orange, Texas. Smith’s attorneys filed a petition in juvenile court in Memphis, Tennessee for the return of her son. On May 3, 2006, Johnson, Brown and Smith flew to Orange, Texas to find Michael.

The attorneys and Smith were met with disappointment because Leavings, Sr. and his family had recently been evicted from the property where he was tracked down. Attorneys Johnson and Brown with the aid of law enforcement in Orange, Texas were able to locate Leavings, Sr. and his family in Houston, Texas. It appeared that a Leavings family member had been posing as the mother of Michael. Houston law enforcement then took up the search for Michael and on May 5, 2006 he was located at an apartment complex in Houston. Immediately upon finding the child, law enforcement returned him to his mother.

Smith is currently living in Memphis and is fighting eviction from her new apartment based on FEMA’s failure to pay housing assistance. “I am so grateful for the help of my attorneys and Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, without them I would have never seen my son, Michael again. I hope other mothers and fathers that have children missing will not give up hope for their safe return,” said Smith.

All legal work on behalf of Smith is being done on a pro bono basis by Johnson and Brown. The Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention has provided funding for all expenses related to reuniting mother and child as part of their continuing work with Katrina and Rita evacuees. Smith was able to contact legal services after she attended a local Memphis church and heard of the resources Lott Carey and attorneys Johnson and Brown were able to provide.

Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention is the premier global mission’s agency of African American Baptist heritage. Their international mission is to cultivate ministry, education, and health programs around the world. Since it was founded in 1897, Lott Carey has grown to a network of missions partnerships in 20 countries throughout six regions of the world. Nationally, Lott Carey has established Resurrection Resource Centers to assist hurricane evacuees secure local, state and federal resources available to them as well as provide pastoral support, legal services, counseling and encouragement.

Lott Carey is continuing to accept donations for the evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. If you are interested in contributing to the relief fund, you can send a contribution to: Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention, 220 I Street NE, Suite 220, Washington, D.C. 20002 or you can donate online at www.lottcarey.org. For additional information or to make a donation, please call 202.543.3200.

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Media contacts: Alayna Adams, The Carter Malone Group, (901) 278-0881, aadams@thecartermalonegroup.com or Florence M. Johnson, Attorney at Law, (901) 336-0613, fjohnson@jsbattorneys.com