Mark and Cherri were desperately searching for support and stability after welcoming their three grandchildren into their home permanently.
“A necessity arose within our family, and we needed to take in our grandchildren,” said Cherri. “Our local Department of Social Services placed Brooklynn, Bryson, and Tyler with us in hopes that it would be a short-term stay. When we realized that mom and dad weren’t making progress in the right direction, Mark and I opted to go through the kinship care program to legally become foster parents for them. Then, the five of us moved through the formal adoption process and became ‘The Family Five,’ a name the kids created.
As “The Family Five” began navigating their new life together, struggles arose. The impact of the children’s past trauma and the major life changes hit Brooklynn the hardest. She was the oldest and had shouldered the enormous responsibility of taking care of her siblings when her parents couldn’t.
“She had decided that she didn’t want to live here with us anymore, and she was going to do anything and everything that she could to make someone remove her from our home,” said Cherri.
Brooklynn spent time in residential treatment facilities, but the struggles seemed to stick around. That ’s when Mark and Cherri were introduced to DePaul’s Post-Adoption Services program.
“I wasn’t sure what my hopes and needs were from DePaul, but I was grasping at anything that could have a positive impact for our family,” said Cherri. “Mark and I wanted to keep Brooklynn in our home, but we also wondered if we were truly what was ‘best’ for her. We were all barely surviving and didn’t know if we could hang on much longer.”
In the program, the family finally found what they had been searching for—support, stability, guidance, compassion, and hope. They were linked with much-needed resources and crisis support, advocated for at meetings, assisted with navigating different systems and services, and provided opportunities to strengthen their bond while also connecting with other adoptive families in similar situations. Cherri says life looks much different and much brighter today than it did before DePaul.
“When I was distraught and didn’t have peace and direction, DePaul and Morgan, the adoption specialist, stepped in and showed up for us in so many ways,” said Cherri.