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Baptist Children's Home
and Family Services
Success Stories |
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BCHFS
SUCCESS STORIES:
A New Life Begins for Sarah
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| Turning life around and finding her way through life - Since coming to BCHFS, Sarah has managed to completely turn her life around for the positive. |
When Sarah was growing up she watched her parents “party” all the time by abusing alcohol and drugs. So when Sarah was 14 years old and introduced to alcohol and marijuana by her “friends,” it seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do. Within a year she was in deep trouble.
Sarah was in the court system by the time she turned 15 years old. It would prove to be the first of many times in the next six years that she would find herself in the justice system leaving behind an extensive criminal record. All charges were drug related.
Alcohol and marijuana would prove to be gate-way drugs for Sarah that ultimately led to cocaine and heroin.
She became completely estranged from her family when she was arrested for attempting to forge their checks to buy drugs.
There were several times she found herself homeless because she had no where to turn. “After about a week on the streets, I would deliberately do something to get arrested. Then the court would send me to Gateway (a rehabilitation center) in Carbondale for 120 days. I did my time and stayed clean to get through the court-ordered rehabilitation. But I never took it seriously until I became pregnant last fall.”
She was released from prison in March of 2007, after serving six months. Once again facing life on
the streets, she met and moved in with a boyfriend who would father her child. They became drinking
buddies but he proved to be a mean drunk, throwing verbal and emotional abuse her way. He was
convicted last fall of domestic abuse with a former girlfriend and is now in prison.
Sarah was drinking but not using heavy drugs when she became pregnant. “When I found out I was pregnant, I completely quit. I don’t want my baby to have problems like fetal alcohol syndrome. I want my baby to have a better life than that.”
Not on speaking terms with her father, facing serious trust issues with her mother (who is now sober) and her stepfather, and with an incarcerated boyfriend she reached out to Angels’ Cove for help.
Expecting her baby in June, she has been at Angels’ Cove for almost three months. “I am very close to my houseparents. I never had siblings so the other girls here are like sisters to me. They are my second family.
Through the programs here I am learning how to be a healthy mom. I attend a Christ-centered recovery group twice a week. I am also learning about healthy relationships with men. I have found God and started reading the bible. I am beginning to find peace with myself for the first time in my life.”
During her stay at Angels’ Cove, she thought she would go back to school and achieve a Certified Nursing Assistant degree so she can support her baby. Her criminal background is a serious roadblock for entrance into the program. After five years of sobriety and if she stays out of trouble she can reapply for the program, which she fully intends to do.
“For the next five years I will waitress to support my baby. God put this baby in me for a reason. It woke me up. Using is not an option for me now. I am clean and sober. Everything is not just about me anymore - it is about my baby.”