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THE NEIGHBORHOOD News • Features
‘Support Is Everything’
Teen Parent Connection program is North Star for foster care teens
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By Donna Williams Lewis
A
a mw
fter 16 years of moving from place
to place, living with assorted rela
tives and family friends, Sapphire
l Broadnax took matters into her
own hands.
She found her school’s social worker,
broke down and cried.
“Basically, my soul was crushed at that
time. I said I just wanted to go into foster
care,” she said.
After talking with her about her
situation, the social worker called authorities.
By nightfall, Broadnax was in a group foster
home.
At first, she was thrilled with her
fresh start, but happiness fizzled as the
constrictions and challenges of being in foster
care set in.
And then, still missing the mother who’d
constantly drifted in and out of her life,
Sapphire, at 17, became a mother herself.
She was a foster child with a child of her
Dealing with school, jobs when she could
get them, motherhood, financial survival, a
revolving door of foster care placements and
the heavy cloud of societal judgment quickly
became overwhelming.
But her near breaking point became her
turning point when a caseworker referred
her to Teen Parent Connection (TPC).
The program provides one-on-one support
6 February 2021 | ffi]
from highly trained life coaches including
developmental screenings for children,
parenting and life skills education, and
assistance with resources for services and
achieving educational goals through home
visits and group classes.
“I was in foster care, literally at the mercy
of God, trying to figure out how am I going
to be able to provide for my child,” said
Sapphire, who joined TPC when her son,
Jamir, was six months old.
Today, at 22, she has earned her GED,
lives independently with Jamir in her own
apartment and is in school for the culinary
arts. She’s also a mentor for the foster teen
parent program, which currently serves 28
male and female parents ages 14 to 21 and
has more youth on a waiting list, according
to Rochelle Grice, the program’s director.
“I wouldn’t be who I am today without
the help ofTPC because support is
everything,” Sapphire said. “Having TPC
here to help girls like me, it really changes
>5
US.
Pushing through
the pandemic
TPC is a program of Creative
Community Services (CCS), a therapeutic
foster care agency serving children who
typically have lived through 15 to 30
unsuccessful placements before coming into
its care.
Founded in 1982, the nonprofit aims
Left: CS staff members Tanya Leonardo (left) and Lauren Taylor with the new mural they created for
the organization’s youth lounge.
Middle: TPC director Rochelle Grice plays with children at the program’s annual picnic, which was
cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Right: Teen Parent Connection mentor Sapphire Broadnax with her son Jamir.
to save “aging out” foster youth from
homelessness and sex trafficking, to prevent
child abuse and end the cycle of foster care.
CCS also has programs that focus on
improving the quality of life for adults with
developmental disabilities and mental health
needs.
The organization had been struggling
with two years’ worth of state budget
cuts when the coronavirus pandemic hit,
cancelling one planned fundraiser after
another.
Its fundraising is now virtual, with social
media campaigns such as #TLCforTPC
(givingtuesday.mightycause.com/story/
Tlcfortpc).
According to national statistics quoted by
CCS, half of teen girls in foster care report
having been pregnant by the age of 19. And
a study quoted by the organization found
that more than half of LGBTQ+ youth
in foster care experienced being homeless
because they felt safer on the street than in
their group or foster home.
A new CCS initiative - Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion — is headed up by Lindsie
Jones, a Ph.D. student whose thesis topic is
the victimization of LGBTQ+ youth.
Jones said the organization plans
to develop in-house staff training, start
LGBTQ+ support groups for foster parents
and foster youth, and will try to reach youth
beyond the nonprofit through collaboration
with other agencies and eventually with
schools.
“I think a lot of youth in foster care,
typically they’re scared to come out because
they’re scared of the repercussions,” Jones
said. “It’s hard enough to come out to your
own family, let alone someone who’s not
even your blood family because you don’t
know if you’ll be accepted. And there’s not a
lot of law and legislation that protects these
youth right now in Georgia.”
Moving on, but giving back
Sapphire still keeps in touch with the
TPC life coach who quickly became her
anchor, encouraging her, offering her “true
advice,” and giving her a nonjudgmental
shoulder to lean on.
The life coach monitored her baby’s
development and made sure his mom got the
clothes she needed to feel better about going
to school, along with a laptop and supplies.
“Basically, anything I needed I got, by the
grace of God,” Sapphire said. “You could tell
that they genuinely cared.”
Looking ahead, her goals are to be
financially stable enough to put her bills on
autopay and to own a restaurant, be the best
mom she can be and to always “be a better
me than I was yesterday.” IE]
Creative Community
Solutions
Volunteer: Be a mentor or a
community partner. Share a skill or a
hobby with youth.
Donate: On the organization’s website
or make an in-kind donation such as a
stroller, new car seat or diapers for the
Teen Parent Connection program.
Contact: ccsgeorgia.org or
(770) 469-6226.
AtlantalntownPaper.com