Birth is traumatic. And babies deserve to be born into the nurturing arms of parents who can care for them in a warm, loving home.
Baby *Chandra was born into the opposite. She was born into a crisis.
The crisis started long before Baby *Chandra was born because her mother, *Kiandra, grew up in an abusive home. Kiandra’s childhood trauma caused her to experiment with drugs. She was fighting a losing battle with her addiction, then she became pregnant.
Baby *Chandra was born addicted to drugs. Her small, frail body violently trembled and she cried out in pain. The first weeks of her life were spent in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), fighting for her life.
That’s where Safe Children Coalition came in. Baby Chandra could not go home with mom, and we knew she needed a special foster home that could wrap her in love and warmth and be dedicated to keeping abreast of her ongoing medial needs.
Baby Chandra is on her way to health. Her remarkable journey to health, her mom’s recovery, and the special foster home that played a role in reuniting Chandra with her mother is too long for one email.
We’ll save that for Part 2.
We won’t wait though to ask you to help though. Your year-end gift will support services like Foster Care, Adoption, and Prevention and Diversion programs like Youth Prevention Services, the Fatherhood Program, Schoolhouse Link, Achievers, a Youth Shelter for homeless teens, and more.
*Baby Chandra arrived at *Marie and *Sydney’s on a holiday weekend in donated clothes. Outside of the standard hospital issue of a blanket, some formula bottles, and a few diapers to get through the night, Baby Chandra had nothing.
She still had tremors and cried incessantly. Finding ways to soothe her seemed almost impossible.
It took the skill of a nurse, turned foster mom, and her daughter to help *Baby Chandra through the long nights of withdrawal, holding and comforting her until finally the withdrawal symptoms subsided.
And while *Baby Chandra was better, that was only half the story.
*Baby Chandra’s mom, *Kiandra did not give up her parenting rights. She was fighting a battle of her own to put her addiction behind her and complete a court ordered case plan so that Baby Chandra could come home.
*Marie and *Sydney knew that part of their job as foster parents was to nurture the relationship between biological parents and their children. With the help of their case managers, they made bonding visits possible.
Then *Kiandra had a few relapses. That’s when *Kiandra realized that if she didn’t do everything in the case plan, that it wouldn’t be safe for *Baby Chandra to come home. That could mean that she would miss the opportunity to have a relationship with her baby forever.
The day *Kiandra decided that she wanted to be a mom to *Baby Chandra more than she wanted to be addicted, was the day life changed forever, for the good, for her and her baby.
The remarkable fortitude and strength shown by *Kiandra through multiple setbacks, with every effort supported through SCC programs, is a reminder that every gift in support of Foster Care, Adoption, and Prevention and Diversion programs impacts the life of a child.
We’ll tell you all about the twists and turns of *Kiandra’s recovery and everyone’s role – foster parents and case managers – in Part 3.
We can’t wait though to ask you to help. Your year-end gift will support services like Foster Care, Adoption, and Prevention and Diversion programs like Youth Prevention Services, the Fatherhood Program, Schoolhouse Link, Achievers, a Youth Shelter for homeless teens, and more.
