Last year, we launched our Family Connections program, which allows biological parents to visit with their children while they are in foster care in a safe, comfortable environment. We recently caught up with Tyra, a mother who has utilized the Family Connections Home to see her son while he was in foster care.
Tyra lost custody of her children late at night on November 30, 2022. Tyra was already in bed after tucking her son in, and her fiancé was bringing her daughter home from cheerleading practice. Around 9:45, there was a knock at the door. It was Child Protective Services and the police.
“I didn’t understand, and my world shattered from that very day,” Tyra said earlier this year. “I feel like when they took them, they took a piece of me. A huge piece of me. While they’re still gone, I’m not the same person.”
Tyra and her fiancé were unable to visit with their six-year-old son for the first three months that he was in care. The first time they reunited was during a supervised visit at our Family Connections Home.
“These little visits that I get every week are what keep me going,” Tyra said. She described playing board games together, her son playing basketball or on the playset in the backyard, and enjoying a Happy Meal or Takis every visit.
“[The volunteers] don’t make it uncomfortable,” Tyra added. “I was nervous, but they’re really chill. Most of them will interact with us and play the games with him, so they do make you really comfortable.”
Since starting the Family Connections Program in 2022, we have hosted visits for 49 families. This program has already allowed biological parents to spent 750 hours with their children!
These visits helped pave the way for Tyra to reunify with her son in October 2023. Despite the joys of reunification, Tyra and her family have also had to grieve the loss of her fiancé, who passed away in April.
When the judge ruled that her son could return home to live with her, Tyra said that her heart instantly swelled, but it was a bittersweet moment. “His dad was supposed to be here for that moment, because that’s what we worked for. He always said, ‘This is our fight together.’”
When Tyra picked her son up from school that day, she brought him a giant bag of Takis, and they had a “junk food night” to celebrate. Tyra reflects that her favorite thing about being back together is her son keeping her on her toes.
“In the months that I didn’t have him, I would miss the chaos,” Tyra said. “I used to always say I would give anything to wake up to a mess.”
Tyra shared these words of encouragement for any parent who is working towards reunification, as she continues to work to reunify with her daughter: “Regardless of how we feel or how tired we are, our babies need us. They’re dependent on us to bring them home. And that feeling of being reunited will be worth it. Everything that you’ve been through will be worth it.”
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