Breanna and Jacob

Breanna and Jacob* are siblings. Younger sister Breanna was born with drugs in her system and both children entered the county care system while still in diapers.

Their mother struggled with drug addiction and, while she loved her children very much, her home was unsuitable for them. Strangers would come in and out of the house to do drugs and there were reports of these visitors committing acts of domestic violence in front of the children. The siblings had few age-appropriate toys.

When possible, a top priority is to place children in foster care with family members, called kinship care. KidsVoice quickly recognized the amount of love and support the children had around them and advocated for them to remain with family. KidsVoice; Children, Youth, and Families; and the family all worked together to find a suitable placement.

For a time, Breanna and Jacob lived with their uncle, but he had two very young children of his own and it became too much.

Then, the siblings’ father decided to move into the house of Breanna and Jacob’s grandmother, Rose*. There, he would raise them. This arrangement worked for quite some time, but one day, their father left the house and never returned. Meanwhile, their mother had fatally overdosed. 

Rose, in her 70s by now, had been in the process of moving into a senior living facility, but delayed the move to become the children’s primary caregiver.

KidsVoice worked with Rose to make sure that she had supports in place to succeed with the children, then 3 and 5. Again, for a time, it worked out.

But Rose was getting older, and things started to slip by. The children missed doctor’s appointments. When Jacob was old enough to go to school, KidsVoice had to step in to help the family avoid missing the registration deadline. KidsVoice visited the family home and found that it had become infested with bed bugs. The struggle of raising two young children was simply too much for Rose to handle.

KidsVoice met with Rose and the children’s uncle. Everyone wanted what was best for Breanna and Jacob, and they recognized that a placement outside of the family was now the best choice. KidsVoice would not agree to Breanna and Jacob being separated and also advocated for regular family visits with Rose and their uncle.

An experienced foster mother opened her home to Breanna and Jacob. Their house was filled with age-appropriate toys, foster siblings, and even a pet dog. She was able to keep up with the high energy of Jacob and young Breanna. She immediately got both siblings up to date with their medical needs.

Now 5 and 7, Breanna and Jacob were adopted on a recent National Adoption Day (held every year in November). They are happy in their adoptive home and still enjoy frequent visits with their uncle and Grandma Rose.

*Names and details changed for confidentiality. Included images are stock photos and do not depict actual clients.