“This Is the Best Day of My Life”
Generational cycles of poverty and broken family: the story of so many who end up in orphanages and institutions, and a story our team is all too familiar with.
Yet this time the story that is so often a tragedy has a happy ending.
Before we get to the good news, we need to understand the sadness and brokenness that lead to a family separation and create these generational cycles.
A young woman (let’s call her “Alondra'' for anonymity’s sake), who’d been separated from her own family, ages out of the institution she was living in, unprepared and unequipped to face the world alone.
Not long after, she has a child, but she is left to raise the little girl on her own.
Trying her best but not really knowing how to live independently, she ends up pregnant again, this time with a little boy. Unfortunately, it is an abusive relationship and after years of suffering she decides to flee. Then, her little sister leaves the institution and moves in with her as well.
Without the guidance, support, and resources she needs, Alondra is totally overwhelmed and unable to meet the needs of all these kids in her care.
Eventually, it all comes crashing down, and child services steps in. Her younger sister and her two children enter the child protection system - and so the cycle continues…
The Reality of Foster Care
Fortunately for this teen and these two young children, there were families in our foster care network to take them in, so none of them had to be placed in an orphanage.
Alondra’s younger sister ends up in one foster family and her two young children end up in another.
After many months in care, a relative is able to take Alondra’s younger sister in (praise God, a reunification!), but her two kids are still in foster care with no clear case plan, and they are struggling.
Most kids do, after all.
Even when parents aren’t perfect (aka, always), it’s often the only home and the only family they’ve known, and they still love their parent(s), despite their shortcomings.
Almost every day, her children say “we just want to go back with our mom.” Unfortunately, Alondra is struggling with mental health issues and other problems, and is far from ready to have her kids with her. At this point, she isn’t even taking the steps to get them back.
You might be thinking, “Why isn’t she fighting for them? Doesn’t she love them?”
Of course she does - but her circumstances, her unresolved trauma, her mistakes, and her misguided beliefs about herself and about the child protection system are all holding her back.
This is probably the case in far more cases than we’d like to believe. Many of the parents we might label as “failures” are facing more than we could possibly imagine, yet it can be difficult to look at their mistakes and want to give them another chance.
In these moments, we must remember the Gospel, and the undeserved grace that we are offered by Christ. That ought to soften our hearts a bit. After all, we aren’t perfect either.
Alondra and her son during one of her visits with her kids
“What If I Go Look For Her?”
At this point in the story, Alondra’s two young children are already on to their second foster family. Despite the love and care they’re receiving, they struggle every day with their desire to be back at home with their mom.
Their foster parents are tired, and with the next hearing not scheduled for months and even then likely to be canceled, there’s no telling when (or if) they’ll be able to return home.
Youscella (director of operations), Zoily (director of family preservation and reunification), and Dilma (director of foster care) are all worried, as it doesn’t look like their case will be resolved in time.
If their case isn’t resolved and the foster family can no longer care for them, the only option would be an institution, potentially hours away from their mom. If anything, this would just make reunification even harder.
Talking together, Story’s leadership team realizes they’ll need a miracle if they’re going to keep these two struggling kids in a family environment.
In their conversation, Zoily throws out a wild idea.
“What if I go look for her (Alondra)?”
“Do You Believe I Can Do All This?”
After managing to reach her on the phone, Zoily headed out for Alondra’s house. When she knocked, she was met by another of Alondra’s sisters, and had to leave a message for her.
Just 15 minutes later, Alondra called.
With that, Zoily rushed back out the door so that she could sit down and have a conversation with her, knowing that this might be the only shot at getting these kids back home.
Not holding back, Zoily was able to explain to Alondra the amount of effort, commitment, and sacrifice it would take for her to get her kids back, and that it could only happen if she was willing to do EVERYTHING asked of her.
“Do you think I’ll be able to do all this?” Alondra asked.
“No, I don’t think you’ll be able to do all of this by yourself,” Zoily replied, “not without help.”
The very next day, September 21st, Alondra showed up at Story’s offices and signed an agreement to work with Story to help get her back on her feet and get her kids back home.
This isn’t just a slip of paper - it’s a contract with requirements she must meet, therapy she must attend, and steps she must take.
It’s also a symbol of her first step out of self-defeat and depression and into hope and recovery.
“This Is the Best Day of My Life”
The Archila family was one of the two foster families that provided love and support for Alondra’s kids during their separation - this was taken in their final moments together.
Alondra had kept her word, and had been coming to Story’s offices since September to receive therapy and work on a plan for getting her kids back.
Things were going so well, Dilma made a call to the local children’s court and talked with the judge about moving up the hearing scheduled for December.
The judge agreed, knowing that our team would be able to provide the services and support we’d agreed to.
Finally, just this last Friday and after almost an entire year in foster care, Alondra and her two young children were reunited!
Alondra is now living close to Story’s offices, making it much easier for us to support her. She has quit her job at a cantina and started working at a hotel, thrown out the dark reminders of her past life, and she’s ready for the nearly 2 years of steps she must take to work towards independence for her family.
She isn’t alone, after all - there’s a whole team behind her.
“This is the best day of my life”, says Alondra’s young son, finally reunited with his mama after all this time. Alondra’s daughter also mentions how happy and thankful she is that God heard her prayer about going back to live with her mom.
Their time in foster care not only kept these two young children from potentially ending up institutionalized, they were able to learn valuable and eternally important lessons during their time in foster care:
"We noticed many positive changes in A----’s and E----’s lives regarding behavior in a Christian home... they learned to pray at home, they learned to eat slowly, eat healthy foods, not insult each other, and care for others.
They learned about personal hygiene and taking care of their bodies... but above all, they learned that Jesus is available to them all the time and that God can see them and can hear their prayers all the time."
-Julio Archila, foster dad
Stories like this are what make the fight for family worth it, and keep us motivated to serve and love vulnerable children and families, even when things feel impossible.
We thank God for making a way in seemingly impossible circumstances, and we thank all of you who are supporting this work through financial gifts and faithful prayer. Let’s keep fighting together to make FAMILY the answer for every child in crisis!
