Florida

One Hope United is proud of its employees for helping create the miracle of quickly finding a home for an abandoned newborn baby with a life-threatening birth defect.

On Aug. 7, 2012, baby girl Doe was born in Sebring, Fla. The newborn was abandoned at the hospital, and through the Safe Haven Law, it was planned for her to be surrendered for adoption and placed through a private agency. This plan changed drastically when it was discovered that the child was born with a birth defect known as anencephaly, meaning she was missing parts of her brain and skull. Children with this defect typically live hours or days.

The hospital was intent on a prompt discharge of this infant, and the abuse registry was contacted based on the lack of a willing private adoption agency. Tireless efforts and collaboration occurred by Child Protective Investigations, Child Welfare Legal Services, and the lead agency, Heartland for Children, to prevent the child from entering foster care.

One Hope United was brought into this collaborative effort soon after, with state-level individuals also working to find this child a happy ending.

OHU Adoption Supervisor Barbara Hester completed an expedited home study to help give the baby girl a family and a name, although it was fully expected that the child would pass away before completing the legal process of adoption.

Ironically, the child was not deemed eligible for Children’s Medical Services, but was able to be placed in a home with licensed medical foster parents who had previously fostered a child who also had anencephaly. Her foster parents named the baby girl Maiya.

Barbara continued to reach out to the family following completion of the home study, and kept others working on the case informed of the status. Everyone working on the case was touched by the baby’s story, and one of the caring professionals cried after witnessing the miracle of finding her a home.

A garden sanctuary is being planned at OHU in Sebring as a daily reminder of this miracle. Special thanks to everyone involved who worked tirelessly to give little Maiya the fundamentals of an identity, a mother and a father.

Donnie (names changed for privacy) was born cocaine dependent due to his mother’s longstanding battle with drugs. Removed once as an infant, Donnie and his older brother went back to live with mom for another year before they had to be removed again due to her inability to stay off drugs and care for her kids.

Donnie became available for adoption before he even turned 4. It is unclear as to why he was never adopted; the Department of Children and Families at the time recruited families specifically wanting to adopt Donnie and his older brother, but Donnie’s older brother eventually decided that they didn’t want to be adopted. As Donnie grew and developed, it became clear he had significant challenges to overcome. A quiet, polite child, Donnie was extremely uncomfortable in social situations and had few friends. His most stable relative was in and out of jail. Donnie had a low IQ and was placed in special education classes at school. Donnie was eventually placed in a group home at age 9, and remained there for eight years.

During his time in the group home, Donnie’s older brother turned 18. One Hope United received Donnie’s case when he was 13, and began recruiting for him, as Donnie expressed an interest in being adopted, but Donnie had trouble connecting with adoptive families. An older child of minority status with special needs, it seemed that a family would never be found for Donnie. As Donnie grew older, One Hope United identified a family for Donnie, a single man who enthusiastically pursued a relationship with Donnie, but Donnie felt shy, uncomfortable and unable to relate. The match didn’t work out. One Hope United Adoptions Case Manager Stacey Greenberg did her best to prepare Donnie for life on his own, but worried about his ability to do so with his challenges and lack of support system.

One day after Donnie turned 17, One Hope United in Miami sent a home study to One Hope United in Orlando for a single man living in South Florida. He worked at a school, had experience in adopting and knew a lot about the services in his area. He had a passion for adopting children from the system to give them a better opportunity. After speaking to him on the phone, Adoptions Case Manager Supervisor Maribel Rosado had an intuition that Donnie and this man might make a good match, and One Hope United worked tirelessly to set up visits between Donnie and this man, making many trips from Orlando to South Florida and back.

In November 2010, at 17 and a half years old, Donnie was placed with his adoptive parent. And on Feb. 7, Donnie was officially adopted. Although he still has his challenges, Donnie’s adoptive parent is committed to being there with him every step of the way on his way to independence, which will likely happen some time from now. But Donnie will not be alone in his journey, and for this One Hope United staff share a great sense of joy.  A big thank you to everyone who was involved in helping Donnie finally find his forever home after 17 years!

Her home was filled with hope. After more than a year in out-of-home care, Jacinta Brown’s five children returned home.

But soon, new allegations arose of environmental hazards, inadequate supervision and substance abuse in the Brown family home. So Jacinta and her family were referred for Family Team Conferencing at One Hope United (OHU).

The OHU Family Case Manager Ansonio Mitchell and Supervisor Yolanda Walker worked with Jacinta to identify family supports, which included her father and two members of the community. The family supports as well as the children’s therapist would all be a part of the Family Team Conferencing meetings with the family.

At the first meeting, Jacinta identified her goals, which were to obtain an education, a new home, get a job, a car, remain drug free and explore her spirituality. The team helped Jacinta to identify the strengths of the family and what was needed to help Jacinta achieve the goals that would help keep her family together.

All team members were focused on the safety and well-being of the children. Additional meetings were held as a follow up and to identify any new needs that arose to help the mother achieve her goals and ensure safety of the children. Updates of the progress made were listed and the mother appeared to feel that she was moving ahead. Jacinta trusted the process, allowing the team to build rapport. She openly assisted in the identification of her needs and was excited about the meetings and seeing results.

“Jacinta accepted guidance, ideas, hints and suggestions that will help her to achieve her goals,” said Ida Rivera, OHU family team coordinator. “There was no judgment made and what was available to her was support.  Jacinta was able to see the plan not as added services or tasks, but as the steps that will allow her to achieve her life goals.”

Jacinta became confident in her abilities to independently reach out and build new connections in her community, and her protective capacity in regards to her children visibly grew. She assumed an active role in their academics and supported the importance of addressing the children’s emotional and mental health needs.

The team process provided Jacinta with access to new resources and helped her develop a commitment to give back to her community—strengthening herself as a woman, as a mother and as a member of society. She obtained her driver’s license, developed a strong support system at the church that she and her family attend, and practiced her newfound respect for her body and soul.

Jacinta participates in her neighborhood community watch program and attends General Equivalency Diploma (GED) classes.

“Many of us might think those steps are small, but to a woman who had a difficult childhood and saw herself as a person without a future, those steps represent her achievements and open a future and a life for her and her children,” said Will Jones, senior vice president at OHU – Florida Region.

The team process could not be successful without the contribution and commitment of each team member, which were willing to go the extra mile to assist the mother and family.

The child care provider, Little Citizens Day Care owner Donna Reed, was available to Jacinta after closing times. Jacinta could reach out to Donna at any time.

The neighborhood community builder, Hopes and Dreams Team and its Director Melody Hills, chose Jacinta as a speaker for a community meeting. This helped build Jacinta’s self-confidence through sharing her newly discovered public speaking skills and allowed her a chance to encourage others through her new found hope.

The Family Team Conferencing process and dedicated team members along with Jacinta’s passion toward her goal of self-improvement and keeping her family together ultimately resulted in successful closure of the case.

Today, Jacinta is drug-free, has a stronger bond with her children and improved her protective capacities to ensure that the family remains safe and together. She has developed an insight into her addiction, has taken responsibility for the impact her behavior had on her children and the risk she placed them in. She developed personal satisfaction by trusting herself.

The goals of the team were measurable and the outcomes were a direct result of the agency involvement. Today the family has the tools to continue to care for themselves and thrive in the community without agency support.