What are the factors that cause a child to enter foster care? Addiction? Abuse? The reality is, it’s rarely a simple situation.
Jackie Polk gave birth to twin boys, and 16 months later, the Department of Child Services (DCS) stepped in to remove her children. Her story includes addiction recovery, domestic violence, and eventually foster care reunification.
Today, she is coming up on six years of being clean and sober, is married, and has a two-month-old son in addition to her twins. Jackie’s hope is that you find hope through hearing her story and realize that regardless of your circumstances, your story can be rewritten.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jackie as much as I did!
(Don’t forget that through the month of August, a generous donor has offered a matching grant up to $20,000! Double your impact today.)
TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY’S CONVERSATION:
1. Being separated from your children is a traumatic event.
It is never easy to come face-to-face with your shortcomings. It is even harder still when you realize that the best thing for your children is to not be with you for a time. The event of being separated from your children can be a traumatic event for both biological parents and the children regardless of if it is expected or not.
“It was heartbreaking and hard and I felt defeated over the next weeks and months.’”
2. Look for ways to support the biological parents.
For many biological parents, they cannot overcome their circumstances alone. They need help, encouragement, and support. One of the ways you can support biological parents as a foster parent is to communicate with them about their children if you are allowed to. Even just sending a picture or allowing them to know that their children are safe and happy is a huge relief.
“The best way to support the bio parents is to communicate with them or at least let them see them through a picture.”
3. It takes a lot to change your circumstances.
For those experiencing domestic violence, they are isolated from support and resources – they are thoroughly alone. It often takes something extreme to get out of a situation like that. Once they get out, it takes lots of little steps to get to a place where they can meet the requirements to reunify with their children.
“I was stuck in a place that was unhealthy. It takes a lot to get out of a situation like that.”
- Connect with Jackie on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.
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Meet Our Guest
Jackie Polk is a survivor of domestic violence, recovering addict, and biological mom to three sweet boys. Today, Jackie is six years clean and sober. She shares her story of addiction recovery, foster care reunification, and domestic violence to show people that they can rewrite their stories regardless of their circumstances. Jackie is married to her husband, Shawn, is a boy mom of three, and works full-time on social media.
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