It’s been a super long time coming for this. First came promoting the project and then I had to sit back and wait for the nominations to roll in. Surprisingly not many nominations as I had expected for something so genuine and…free! I feared not and kept promoting it until just the right person came along who was truly someone with a story to be told and someone who deserved a little extra something to make life just a little bit brighter! The few other nominations that I received, I very much appreciated them and want to say thank you! Keep trying to nominate those who you think are deserving people and they may get picked! If nominations allow, I pick a winner every month!! Now on to our 1st winner. Her name is Monica and here is her story:
Monica became involved in the child welfare system and ultimately had all of her children removed from her about 6 years ago due to being a victim of domestic violence. The children were removed from her care because she wasn’t able to protect them from their father who inflicted violence on Monica and her children. Monica was unable to break the cycle of domestic violence and after two years, her oldest three children were placed with relatives and went into legal guardianships. However, her youngest children, then 6 months and 3 years old were adoptable and with relatives who wanted to adopt them. The courts terminated her parental rights and the two youngest went forward on the adoption track. After, the children did continue to have monthly visits with their siblings.
Some time later, Monica became pregnant again by her batterer, and the father of her other five children. If you know about domestic violence, it’s a vicious and horrible cycle. It can take a victim on average 7 times to finally leave their abusive spouse. But by now, she was so fed up with the cycle and having lost her other children, she finally left him. When she did, she also left behind most of her belongings and more importantly, pictures of her children.
Over the course of the next few years, Monica worked tremendously hard to better herself and break the cycle for good. She started therapy, attended victim support groups and took parenting classes. With that, she was able to get a restraining order against the father, full custody of her new baby and she was able to regain custody of her three oldest children. But her family wasn’t complete without her youngest two children who were on their way to being adopted.
Then suddenly, the adoption placement fell through. When Monica found out that the adoption fell thru, she talked to a family lawyer and found out that there is an exception in the law, where in a few circumstances, the parental rights can be reinstated. BUT this can only be put forth by the child’s attorney. Monica called the children’s new attorney every other day for three weeks. Finally, the child’s attorney called her back to hear what she had to say. The goal of the system was to provide her clients with stability and permanence. Having read the file and knowing that the three oldest children returned to their mother, the attorney was interested in seeing how the mother had changed and whether she could provide that stability. Most importantly, all of the children had been visiting for the last five years and knew that Monica was their mother and they wanted to return to her. After a thorough investigation, the attorney worker filed a petition to start visits with Monica and her two younger children. The visits were eventually increased from 1 hour supervised to weekends when Monica moved to a 5 bedroom house. At that point it was the perfect time to file to reinstate Monica’s parental rights. The county social worker and the judge agreed with the request that the children were sent home. The kids have been home with Monica and their siblings for 7 months now and they are doing great.
The wonderful lady that referred Monica as a Deserving Person said, “…. during the many conversations that I had with Monica, the one thing that totally tugged at my heartstrings was that when she left, she left behind all of the pictures of the kids. The pictures she has now, as far as I know, are all from cell phones. I thought this would be a great way for her to get a nice family photo of her and her, now finally complete, family(minus the batterer).”
Monica’s story instantly got me…I felt for her from the beginning. Motherhood is such a precious thing and to have someone take that away from a women it’s heartbreaking. Being a mommy myself I felt for Monica and for the babies/kids. After conversing through a few emails I knew I’d like Monica. Once I met her it was just validation of how deserving she was. He kids were rather quite at first as I waited at the front door while she got ready…but once I started talking to everyone they were so respectful and sweet…and shy! 
) Seven kids…..you think EEK right…but they were amazing. I want to thank all of them for being so great and enjoying today. You all deserved this…as a family! I am so happy that I could brighten someone’s day. One thing that really stuck today was when I was setting up my lights and umbrellas….when I opened one umbrella all the little kids replied with “oooooooo coool…ooooo awesome…wow!” I just thought that was the cutest thing. It was such an innocent expression. They didn’t have anything to say prior to that; complete silence almost all up until I opened an umbrella. Priceless. ).
(Left) Little {c} being such a fantastic model. She loved almost every minute of the picture taking! (Center) Mama & little {c} being themselves! (Right) Mama and one of her little guys. You can see the love in his face as he looks up to his mommy and may I add how beautiful mommy looks!
(Left) The eldest of the ladies/sisters. Very dramatic lighting, she played it up beautifully. (Center) Mama and one of the cuties…being a little shy, but still a favorite of mine. A very genuine moment on his behalf. (Right) Yes. He IS cool. )
(Left) The second eldest of the ladies/sisters. Looking great. (Center) Sissies looking sassy! (Right) The whole family. Amazing.
I want to thank you all again. I hope that this was an amazing experience for you. I hope it seals the deal to a new wonderful beginning for your family! Enjoy.
These are great, and what an amazing story, truly touching and what a great family to have received such a beautiful gift!!
Thanks, once again
) love reading your comments.
Alicia, this is a GREAT project. I love that you are sharing your passion and gift with everyone.
Thank you Roxanna.
) Keep nominating people, that is the only way I can help people is by others bringing them to me. Thanks!