John G. hasn't had many good breaks in his young life.

He was abandoned by his drug-addicted mother; his father died when John was 3. In the 13 years since, he has been shuttled between unwilling relatives and abusive guardians.

But through it all, John has had one asset. A home.

The modest house, on a cul-de-sac in northeast Greensboro, was built by Habitat for Humanity and purchased by John's parents long before drugs and cancer took them away.

It's no mansion, but it is the total of John's inheritance. And, with help from legal advocates, John is fighting to hang on to it.

Earlier this year, John G. (whose full name is not used because he is a minor) filed suit against the Guilford County Department of Social Services, which has been using the young man's Social Security checks to pay for his food, housing and clothes -- while halting his mortgage payments and allowing the house to fall into disrepair. Even though John G.'s Social Security benefits are $538 per month, while the mortgage is only $221.

The place was in foreclosure, and the home condemned, when a Guilford County judge stepped in and ordered DSS to pay the mortgage, including back payments, and repairs.

It was a victory for John, but Social Services has appealed the ruling to the state Court of Appeals, which should hear the case this fall.

The issue at hand is whether cash-strapped counties should have to preserve a foster child's assets, or whether they should be allowed to tap into the child's Social Security or other benefits to pay for daily living expenses.

The N.C. Association of County Commissioners has filed a brief in court supporting Guilford's Department of Social Services.

The state's Guardian ad Litem program originally filed a brief supporting John, but it was quickly withdrawn. (See my blog -- blogs.newsobserver.com/ ruth/index.php -- for more on that later this week.)

I asked John Shore, the director of Guilford DSS, how he justified letting John G.'s inheritance fall into ruin. Shore said that saving one house would leave that much less money for other needy children.

The department, Shore said, is simply following the law. The agency is allowed to use a child's benefits to pay for his care. That is a much broader issue than John G.'s case.

Shore said his agency has repeatedly been "dumped on" and portrayed as the villain.

"The issue that gets lost in all of this," Shore said, "is that there are kids who never get adopted and age out of the foster system with nothing to their names. No money. No home. No future.

"That," he said, "is a real tragedy."

And he's right.

Then again, it's his agency spending untold thousands in legal fees to fight one kid who does have a future.

Or, at least, a home.

Last week, a class from UNC-Greensboro and John G.'s lawyer, Lewis Pitts, donned work clothes and set about fixing up his house.

Whatever the policy issues at stake, letting a young man's home fall into disrepair and foreclosure is inexcusable.

It's just about the only thing John G. has left.