Set kids free from trauma of sexual/physical abuse

Merry Chirstmas!

On November 16th, Innovative Alternatives, Inc. celebrated it's 2015 Totally Texan 26th Anniversary Blast! Lori Warren told this story:

Imagine the Mother of one of your children's friends--whom you barely know--calls to ask if you can take her 3 children overnight, or at most, for a few days, "..just until these false allegations are all cleared up about my husband." You know he is the step-father of this woman's 2 daughters and one son. You have only met her son. What would you say? We said, "Of course," never expecting that these would become our children before everything was over.

What was the allegation? That her husband had sexually abused her oldest daughter, now 15, for several years--almost the life of their marriage. Who did the Mom believe? Her husband, not her daughter. So we take in 3 children in addition to our own 3 kids to our 3 bedroom home. Adjustments? Many. You can only imagine what her children were going through, but there were tremendous adjustments for our own kids as well. What was our saving grace? Innovative Alternatives, Inc. The local Friendswood Police Department referred us to this nonprofit agency that provides free counseling to any crime victim, relative, guardian or eye witness of a crime. It doesn't matter when, how or whether it was ever reported.

All three children were assigned their own counselors at IA, and all three chidren had different issues resulting from the molestation of one--the middle child and oldest girl. Her 'free counselor' was not a new-comer to the field, but had more than two decades of experience with trauma victims, founded this agency. These aren't just beginners--these folks know what they are doing! M's counselor testified in both criminal court and family court and the perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced to prison. The kid's Mom lost her parental rights for failing to protect her children. The counselor's coached us as foster parents on how to support each child and how to break the news to the youngest about why she could never return to live with her Mom, but they also coached us about how to talk about the kids parents without demonizing and how to maintain some supervised visitation with their Mom, as the each of the kids desired it.

Without all 3 of these high quality therapists as well as the support staff at IA, we'd have been lost and could never have supported these foster kids or our own children appropriately. This decision could have torn our family apart, regardless of our good intentions and the love we had to give. I recen'tly called M at college and heard her roomate ask in the back ground, "Who are you talking to?" and her answer, "My Mom!" I cried. It was the first time and the very best Christmas gift she could ever give me!

Lori is a hero in our book! Yet, stories like Lori's are plentiful at our agency. So many courageous people are struggling to function or to help others with their own struggles, like Lori & Brad helped 3 children of a relative stranger. Won't you help us to continue to support families who are trying to do the right thing by children and who do their best to protect them from people who wish to continue to use and hurt them? At Christmas, many children are separated from their parents and need to know they are not fogotten. Thank you for your past support and please consider doing what you can once again this year! If you cannot, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, for the very best outcomes in their lives! We appreciate you and pray for your blessing as well during this holiday season.

Warmest Regards,

Sharon