Nicole and Nina Part 1 of 5

I arrived at juvenile court on a snowy November morning to sign in as Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) for the first court hearing held regarding Nicole and Nina*, three-and-two-year-old sisters who had been placed in foster care one week earlier. Their mother had voluntarily signed custody of the girls over to children’s services and walked away. 

I approached the security guard and exchanged pleasantries while he handed me the court complaint. I shrugged off my coat and began reading it while juggling my briefcase, purse, and gloves, never once taking my eyes off the paperwork in my hands. It was a window into these two little precious, vulnerable lives, and I wanted to catch every glimpse I could.

Nicole and Nina’s biological mom was allegedly living her boyfriend who was a convicted, registered sex offender. She had refused to make him leave knowing this choice would force the girls to leave instead. She also allegedly was addicted to prescription painkillers and had a history of untreated bi-polar disorder. A man named Jason* was listed as the biological father with address unknown. No other family members or significant others were identified.

The security guard leaned across his desk and told me someone had signed in for the hearing. I scanned the courthouse waiting area as the guard pointed to a petite man with dirty jeans two sizes too big and long, gray hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail. Somehow Jason had made his way to court. That almost never happens.

Jason was seated on a hard metal chair beneath florescent lights. He held a battered pad of paper in his wrinkled fingers and an old, frayed backpack on his lap. I walked over and shook his bony hand as I introduced myself as the girls’ court appointed Guardian Ad Litem.  I couldn’t help but notice gentleness behind his tired, worn blue eyes. He was 41 years old going on 70 after living a hard life of alcohol and nicotine addiction. He coughed incessantly courtesy of emphysema. He had started drinking at age nine with his father and never stopped.

Jason lived under a bridge near the river. He was forever hopelessly in love with the girls’ biological mother whom he met at an AA meeting years before when both were trying to get clean for a minute. He learned of the girls’ placement in foster care when he called the mom the week before.

Attempting to build respectful relationships with biological parents is the single most important step in moving a case swiftly through the court process. As professionals we are not here to judge. We are here to work toward solutions. The first meeting is critical.

The first meeting is also a pivotal moment to gain as much information about the history of children in case such relationships later head south. Sometimes against our best efforts cases languish for years and by the time court moves toward adoption the biological family is long gone, taking with them important information such as family medical history and which hospital houses birth records.

Jason and I sat together for twenty minutes while I collected as much information as he was willing to give me. In return I answered his questions about what comes next. He had yet to meet his public defender who was caught in another hearing down the hall.

“Case of Nicole and Nina Moore.”* Hearing the names of the girls called out in the large waiting room was our cue that the magistrate was ready. As Jason leaned forward to stand, his backpack fell to the floor and piles of crinkled paper spilled out in every direction. They were covered with scratchy handwriting and dirt stains. He looked almost apologetic as I bent down to help him retrieve them.

“I like to write,” he said. I was surprised. I’d never met a homeless alcoholic with tired, kind blue eyes and a backpack filled with writing. He had no way of knowing that I did too and was stealing every spare minute I could to write Invisible Kids, a book I wrote in snatches of time like lunch breaks during day-long trials. 

We headed into the courtroom and took our seats at separate tables while the hearing was called to order. I pulled out my own yellow legal pad of paper and flipped to a crisp new page, ready to write down every detail disclosed during the hearing. Being charged with representing Nicole and Nina’s best interests in court, having a say in their lives and how their futures would unfold was one of the most powerful, important tasks a professional could ever have. It would never be just a job to me. It was sacred.

On that snowy, November day I had no idea what course the case would take. I could only do my very best to advocate for two traumatized little girls I had yet to meet. On my fourth page of notes I wrote their names one more time. Nicole. Nina. Then I ran my finger over the ink and silently said one word. Promise. 

Part 2 Next Week: Meeting Nicole and Nina in their foster home.

 

*Names have been changed to protect identity.

 

 

 

 

What Makes a Mother a Mother?

When do a child’s rights supersede her mother’s rights? 

When do we stop giving chances to mothers and start giving chances to babies instead?   

Or can we give them each a chance at the same time? 

So the questions ran through my mind as I drove to visit nineteen-year-old Alexis*. She had just given birth a week earlier to baby Myra*, her third child in as many years. Her premature newborn lay in the NICU at the local hospital, recovering from a blood transfusion. Alexis lay in her nearly empty apartment, recovering from childbirth and pumping bottles of breast milk for her baby. 

A single, drug-addicted mother raised Alexis until she was 11 and her mom's boyfriend raped her. She was placed in foster care and never returned home to her mother. She bounced around in foster homes and group homes for a while until her behavior escalated out of control and she posed a risk to herself and others. She had difficulty controlling her anger and once punched a therapist in the face. She then went to live in a locked hospital-like unit for severely troubled teens.

Alexis was in such a locked unit for troubled teens when she gave birth to her first daughter at 16.  Her little girl went to live with the father’s mother, who eventually took legal custody of her. 

Alexis made progress emotionally and behaviorally and was moved from the locked facility to an unlocked group home. She immediately ran away and stayed gone for eight months.  She returned belligerent and aggressive, pregnant for the second time. She was placed in another locked facility. One day she became so angry with her therapist that she took her anger out on her belly, beating on it so severely her body was thrust into labor a month early and baby number two emerged. He went to live with his one-year-old sister.   

Alexis eventually was discharged from this facility and placed in a different group home. She ran away after two weeks and emancipated from foster care on her eighteenth birthday with her whereabouts unknown. Somehow she managed to pull herself together, seeking help for aged-out teens and moving into an apartment on her own even though she picked up one criminal charge for prostitution which was dropped. She gave birth to Myra, baby number three, six months later. Myra was born premature. Alexis tested positive for marijuana.  

This time, she insisted, she was going to do it. She was going to be a mother. She had a place to live. She was attending classes to obtain her General Education Degree and had started parenting classes on her own. She was willing to do drug treatment, anything, in order to bring her baby home.

Alexis and I sat and talked in her apartment.  Tears streamed down her face as she talked about not being able to get herself together for her first two children. She accepted responsibility for her mistakes and was determined to do better. All she wanted was a chance to do right by this baby.  Would I give her that? Please? 

I looked around her apartment that sported one threadbare couch and a chair. A flower arrangement sat on a scratched up table with one broken leg, dried old petals littering the table and even the floor below.  It looked as if had been there for months and when I asked her about it, she indicated it was.   

“My public defender sent those to me two months ago.”  She lovingly removed the card that accompanied them and read it to me.   

“Congratulations on your new apartment.” She looked up at me with a smile of innocence. “That was the first time I ever got flowers.  I didn’t know they could be sent in a vase by a man who rang my bell and handed them to me.”  She delicately replaced the card while three more petals fell to the floor.   

I saw her pain medication sitting on the counter in the kitchen and thought back to the times I delivered my three children.  Unlike Alexis, I had a husband to hold my hand through labor pains and friends and family who delivered dinners to my house in the days after I brought my babies home. Alexis delivered her baby alone, then returned to a nearly empty apartment, greeted only by the months old dead flowers that sat on her table. I sighed. There are never easy answers. Things are rarely black or white in this line or work, only endless shades of gray.

How could she successfully raise this vulnerable, precious new life? Who deserved a real chance?  

*name changed to protect identity
 

Your Children Need You

The death of two-year-old Damarcus Jackson allegedly at the hands of his biological father has sparked three independent investigations regarding a juvenile court decision to reunify the former foster child with his biological family.

These three investigations may or may not give us a glimpse into the decision-making process that placed Damarcus squarely in the hands of the man who allegedly killed him. When the investigations are concluded, what will be different? Will the system apply whatever it might learn from these investigations? What will be gained?

Every time a foster child or reunified child dies as a result of abuse we do this. We get outraged. We cry for the lost life and the child who suffered horrifically despite the child welfare system’s involvement. Think three-year-old Marcus Fiesel who was brutally murdered by his foster parents after they pinned his arms behind his back, bound him, and left him in a hot closet where he died of hyperthermia. Think two-year-old Californian Vyctorya Sandoval who was reunified with biological family despite the protests of veteran system workers and died of abuse on Easter in 2011. Think Florida’s ten-year-old Nubia Barahona who was adopted and later killed by foster parents despite multiple red flags raised throughout the span of her short childhood. Think seven-year-old Gabriel Myers, a Florida foster child who hung himself in the shower of his foster home.

These cases devastate us for a little while. We demand accountability. We demand change. In response, investigations are initiated and promises made and then we are back to business as usual. Until the next child dies. Then we start the outrage and demands all over again.

It must change. Not just the system itself, but the mindset that these children are not our collective responsibility. Foster kids are under the custody and control of the government.  They belong to the system as opposed to a loving family. As taxpayers, foster children belong to all of us.  Therefore, their needs and our understanding of those needs and commitment to meeting them should be among our highest priorities. They deserve more than a few weeks of our attention and outrage when something goes wrong.

Infants and toddlers like Damarcus are the fastest growing group of kids coming into foster care.  he deck is stacked against them from the start. They’ve experienced trauma at a time of rapid brain growth which can have life-long impacts on their cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral development. They are more likely to be abused and neglected than older children.  They are thrust into an overloaded child welfare system that sometimes works and sometimes fails.

However, foster care is necessary and often life-saving. Eighty percent of all homicide child victims are under age four.  Eighty percent of those kids are killed by their parents.

This is a community problem demanding a community response in addition to a government response. We cannot expect the system to fix itself. We have to step in if we have any hope of improving outcomes for vulnerable children. Get educated about the complex issues facing the child welfare system and the children and families it is designed to serve. Get Involved. Give your time. Use your voice. 

Your children need you.

Brain and Best Interests Should Trump Blood

It is not about her bloodline. It is about her brain.

This is the reason why Baby Veronica should have stayed in the custody of her loving adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, with whom she resided from her time of birth until the age of 27 months when she was put into a pickup truck by her biological father, a virtual stranger, and driven 22 hours to her new home. Science proves that trauma of separation from loving, primary caregivers interupts brain growth and development.

Who do you think Veronica would say her parents are? The people who cared for her day and night and loved her into a happy, thriving two-year-old or a stranger whose DNA she carried?

Dusten Brown signed a legal document after Veronica was born stating he would relinquish his parental rights. Then he walked away.

But he came back later claiming he was part Cherokee and Veronica was too, affording his parental rights special protection under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. The court and the Indian Child Welfare Act threw open the doors for him, slamming the door on Veronica’s right to live with her loving family free from the intrusion of government.Never mind that in Veronica’s eyes she was with her parents, the two people who loved and nurtured and cared for her unconditionally. Never mind that her non-Indian biological mother enjoyed an open adoption and maintained contact with her and has now lost that. Never mind that Dusten Brown never mentioned to bio mom he was Cherokee or behaved in a way that showed he was connected to his Indian heritage. Never mind the science that proves babies as young as six months experience grief, loss, and depression following separation from their primary caregivers. 

Never mind that if the court really put Veronica’s best interests first, it would have at least required the biological father to stay in South Carolina for a period of time visiting with Veronica daily and developing a relationship with her before he hauled her off across the country.

Never mind, indeed.

Hopefully the US Supreme Court will right all these wrongs and send Veronica home to her real parents, the people who fought to protect her from the time she took her first breath.

Public opinion matters. There is strength in numbers. The civil rights movement started when Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and the number of people supporting her swelled to epic proportions. It is time for children’s rights to matter and time for you to use your voice on their behalf.

Visit www.saveveronica.org to learn more or join the Save Veronica Facebook Page.

 

For My Three Kids on Mother's Day

I cringed when the babysitter told me you played social worker instead of doctor and wondered if, despite my diligence, you picked up bits and pieces of overheard work phone conversations at the tender age of five.

I cringed when midway through a trial I remembered that I forgot to send you to school with money for the flower sale. My heart sunk, imagining your six-year-old self sitting off to the side while your classmates carefully chose and picked out their favorites.

I cringed when you called me because you forgot your lunch and I couldn’t bring it to you. It was fish stick day. What horrible timing.

I cringed every time the stress of my job created stress at home and you soaked it up much like your skin soaked up the sun the day your babysitter forgot to re-dose you with a hefty amount of sunscreen.

Most days I balanced your needs with needs of motherless children. I often worried all of you were short-changed. I did the best I could and tried to convince myself it was good enough.

It was.

I swelled with pride the day you boldly proclaimed I did not need to come with you as you took your little foster cousin outside to play. From the living room window I watched you spread out a quilt and sprinkle it with toys and books. You set her down and automatically bent her legs at the knee just like the physical therapist suggested. Her little hand reached out to you and you instinctively leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. Such tenderness coming from my boy astounded me. Maybe somewhere, somehow, seeds of compassion were sown into your heart when I wasn’t looking.

Relief washed over me when you bounced out of school with delicate hands full of tiny plants ready to grow. You were all smiles when you relayed how your teacher slipped you a five dollar bill. Somehow, your carefully chosen plants were made more special by the fact that someone other than your mom took care of a problem for you.

I laughed out loud when you told me your aunt brought you McDonald’s on fish stick day. What started out as a mini-crisis morphed into a treat. I laughed harder when you suggested perhaps you should forget your lunch more often.

Growing the three of you in this world reminds me that when I fail or forget or mess up, it will be OK. I’ve learned there are others who will right my wrongs, remember when I forget, be there when I can’t. Because of this, I know that despite the horrors, the suffering of so many, the anger and hatred spewed over politics and other contentious issues, the world will be OK. Really, it will be, as long as we help each other and the helpless.

As you have grown, your gifts to the world have grown as well. I remember this when another mom randomly stops me at the grocery store and thanks me for raising such a great kid. You’ve been extraordinarily kind to her daughter at school who’s been having a hard time. I want to save the facebook message I receive from a woman who echoes the same sentiments about your sister. I hang onto all the words I’ve heard in dozens of parent-teacher conferences for the three of you over the years. Compassionate. Kind. Driven. Problem-solver. Joy. Bright. Helper. Funny. Determined. Gift.

Gift indeed. What a gift each of you is and what gifts you bring to our hurting world.

Happy Mother’s Day to the stay-at-home moms who helped me in a pinch. Happy Mother’s Day to the working moms who covered for me when my own kids needed me more. Happy Mother’s Day to the teachers who cherished my children and went the extra mile for them. Happy Mother’s Day to their aunts and grandmas who do things like bring them McDonald’s, take them shopping, take them on vacation, and love them wholeheartedly.

Finally, Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers of the motherless who stand in the gap and lovingly care for their foster children with a fierce and loyal love that will stay with those kids forever.

Gift indeed.

Would You Still Have a Job?

When I was a teenager my first job was as a ‘bagger’ at the neighborhood grocery store. When I wasn’t asking ‘paper or plastic’, I was busy gathering carts from the parking lot. This was a very important job. A wayward cart could cause untold damage back in the day before cart corrals. I was vigilant about keeping the lot free. One of my work buddies did not share the same enthusiasm. On his watch, a runaway cart slammed into a parked car. There were serious dents involved and management was not happy. The second time it happened management was furious. Although I wasn’t sure it was really my buddy’s fault, he was the one in charge of the parking lot when the transgressions occurred. I don’t think they fired him. They just kind of reduced his hours to nothing and let him drift away. I think of that from time to time when I see or hear of magistrates or judges making horrendous decisions about the lives of children despite the evidence of risk before them. Good decisions about foster children are made every day across the country. Unfortunately, bad ones are too.

Vyctorya (Tori) Sandoval was eighteen months old when she was returned from foster care to the home of her biological parents. Their family history included domestic violence and physical abuse. A restraining order was issued preventing her mom and dad from being together. They had lost custody of eight other children and disappeared after Tori was placed in foster care. They resurfaced months later and wanted her back.

The court (Commissioner Marilyn Mackel) gave her back. Even though they lived together despite the history of violence and restraining order. Even though they never engaged in or completed services to address the domestic violence between them. Even though they hadn’t retained custody of their eight older children. Even though Tori (at age 15 months) tried to run and hide from them at visits. Even though she sobbed uncontrollably after visits, cried in her sleep, and wanted to be held by her foster parents all the time. Even though she returned from overnight visits emotionless with only a fixed stare. Even though she came home from visits and stuffed food into her little mouth with the frenzy of a starving child. Even though her loving foster parents wanted to adopt her. Commissioner Mackel returned Tori to her biological parents and did not order any post-reunification supervision of the case.

Linda Kontis, director of the foster care agency who had overseen Tori’s foster placement, wrote this letter of grave concern and requested a full review of Tori’s case. The court
(Judge Michael Nash) reviewed it. Nothing changed.

Tori died seven months later.

Full cardiopulmonary arrest. Severe anemia. Acute renal failure. Severe hypothermia. Severe hypocalcaemia. Displaced fracture to the right ninth rib. Multiple bruises to face and body. Large bruise and laceration to the forehead, right eye, chest, abdomen and legs.

Commissioner Mackel took a medical leave of absence after the LA Times exposed the letter and Tori’s case yet returned to the bench months later. Judge Nash continues presiding today.

Tori’s biological parents’ arraignment is scheduled for later this week. They are ultimately allegedly responsible for her death. However, when we fail to hold courts accountable for their decisions or at least question how the courts arrived at such decisions then we further rob vulnerable children of a chance to be heard. We are also more likely to fail children in the future.

If a local grocery store manager holds a sixteen-year-old accountable for not keeping a watchful eye on the cart situation in a parking lot, surely we can hold accountable the people who fail to keep a watchful eye on defenseless babies who truly have no voice.

Especially when these kids pay for it with their lives.

Five Ways to Speak for Babies in Court

One in four children coming into foster care is a baby under age one. Here are five ways you can be sure their voice is heard in court.

The best opportunity we have to build strong children is during their first three years of life when their brains are developing at rapid rates and they are soaking up their surroundings. Our early life experiences shape the way we learn and grow throughout our lives. CASAs who serve babies have a tremendous opportunity to help get these extremely vulnerable infants on the right track-- saving their childhoods as well as shaping future generations to come. Knowing what to look for and how to be a voice for these truly voiceless young children is critical now more than ever. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Get the lay of their land. Frequent home visitation is the only way to get a good picture of what Baby’s daily life looks like. To understand Baby’s life situation, it’s important to visit any setting where Baby spends a lot of time, including childcare centers or in-home providers. Some things to look for: Is Baby on a schedule? Routine and structure are critical to helping very young children feel safe and overcome early adverse life experiences. Who lives in the home and have you met them? Who are the important people in Baby’s life? How is Baby relating to his or her adult caregivers? Does Baby sleep too much? Too little? Does Baby experience significant regulation problems such as reflux, constipation, or difficulty gaining weight? You can’t get the full picture if you don’t know what all the pieces look like. Any issues you uncover during this step may point to the fact that Baby is having a hard time and needs some help. Science tells us babies as young as six months experience grief, loss, anxiety, and depression. These problems are best mitigated by routine and consistent, nurturing care from a stable and loving adult.

Case Study: Sebastian* was seven-months-old when his parents were arrested for drug-trafficking and child endangering charges. He was immediately placed in foster care and a CASA was assigned to advocate for him. His CASA made four foster home visits over the next two months. Each time she visited, Sebastian was in his crib no matter what time of day his CASA arrived. His foster mother only vaguely answered her questions about his daily life, indicating she was not consistently engaged with him and did not have a schedule for him. In addition, the CASA did not observe the foster mother physically interacting with Sebastian at all. Without these twice-monthly home visits, his CASA would likely not have noticed these red flags. Evidence shows that babies need a routine that will help them begin to feel competent by knowing what to expect each day. Likewise, they need the freedom to explore their surroundings and build both big and little muscles by crawling, etc.

2.Dig Deeper. Now that you have a sense of Baby’s life, it’s time to dig deeper. Where are Baby’s medical records and has Baby been to the doctor? Babies in foster care may move from home to home and their records and medical history often do not move with them. Are Baby’s immunizations up to date? Babies get multiple doses of six routine childhood vaccines that protect against eight diseases such as polio. They receive nearly twenty doses of these six vaccines in the first year of life. Are there any outstanding medical issues or previous concerns noted by a pediatrician?

Does Baby need a referral for a full developmental assessment? Per CAPTA and federal law, all children under age three who are victims of substantiated physical abuse allegations are automatically eligible for full developmental assessments. Take advantage of this assessment and don’t assume you know from your own experience whether Baby is delayed or not. Leave it to the experts.

Case Study: Sebastian’s CASA requested a full developmental assessment that found him to be functioning at the chronological age of five months. When his foster mother was unable to ensure his attendance at physical, occupational, and speech therapy sessions, his CASA advocated that Sebastian be moved to a foster home better able to meet his needs. Even recognizing the trauma incurred when a baby moves, the CASA believed it was worse to leave Sebastian in a home where he was clearly not thriving. Sebastian was subsequently moved to a loving home with devoted foster parents. He made huge strides in catching up thanks to this therapies combined with the loving, consistent, routine care he received.

3.Take pictures. CASAs are in a unique position to be the historian of a baby’s early years. The simple act of snapping occasional photos has the potential to make significant impacts in a variety of ways. With the agreement of all attorneys, photos of Baby can be attached to court reports and shared with the judge, encouraging all parties to focus on the reality that the decisions they make will shape Baby’s life forever. Sharing photos with biological parents shows you respect their role in their child’s life. That acknowledgement may strengthen your relationship with parents and lead to better communication between you. When the case closes, these photos should be given to the person who has custody of Baby. This is a treasured gift for parents who may have missed the smiles from various stages of development. The photos can also be given to a young child’s mental health therapist and used as a tool to help the child make sense of his/her history and help the child prepare for a transition to a permanent home.

Case Study: Sebastian’s CASA took photos of him regularly and was astonished at the healthy change in Sebastian from the time she first met him. At nine months, Sebastian’s empty eyes were haunting while he lay in his crib. By fourteen months, a photo revealed a chubby young toddler with bright eyes, a wide smile, and arms waving in the air. Sebastian’s CASA attached his picture to her court report and the judge put it right inside the flap of his legal file. It became the first thing he saw when he pulled the case file. The CASA also mailed copies of the photos to Sebastian’s biological parents, including a letter introducing herself as Sebastian’s court advocate.

4.Keep time. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) was enacted to prevent foster kids from languishing in the system and moving them toward adoption. ASFA requires efforts to be made toward permanency for children within two years of initial foster care placement. Despite ASFA, babies under three months take, on average, 39 months before permanency is achieved when they are placed with the initial goal of adoption. In Hamilton County, Ohio, juvenile court dependency review hearings begin with the following statement read aloud: "This is case number 00-0000 regarding Jane Smith who is 18 months old. Jane has been in agency care for 162 days. The court and parties have 203 days to reunify the family or secure another permanent placement for the child. The attorneys and parties have a duty to assist Jane in achieving that permanent home." Staying focused on the legal clock can help prevent babies from languishing in the system unnecessarily.

Case Study: Sebastian remained in his loving foster home from the time he was nine months old until he was two. Because of his parents’ criminal trials and subsequent prison terms, no reunification efforts were made. His CASA’s diligence in ensuring potential extended family members were investigated in a timely manner helped keep the case moving. Ultimately, no family members were found to be able, willing, and appropriate to care for Sebastian.

Sebastian’s foster parents were not interested in adopting him and he was ultimately transitioned to an adoptive home with careful planning. His secure attachment to his foster parents enabled him to better cope with the gradual move to his new family. It is better for babies like Sebastian to make and break an attachment than to not be given the opportunity to experience a healthy attachment at all. When Sebastian’s adoption finalized, his CASA gave his new parents a photo album containing the photos she had taken throughout the case.

5.Know your facts. While it is important to know all of the facts about Baby’s case, it is equally important to know what the trajectory of life looks like for foster babies. More than half of the young children placed in foster care have developmental delays. Young children are more likely to be abused and neglected in foster care than older children and to stay in foster care longer. Up to 80% have chronic health conditions. Once you know these facts, you can easily share them with others and be a voice not just for one child but for all young children in foster care. Start having the conversations about how to address these issues case by case and systemically. Build your own team of passionate people who want to help babies beat these odds. Visit www.zerotothree.org for more information about initiatives like Court Teams for Maltreated Infants that are helping very vulnerable young children.


When you intervene successfully on behalf of a baby, you give him or her a second chance at a happy childhood as well as help change the course of his or her entire future, which has ripple effects for generations to come. It is an exciting time to be helping babies in foster care because we know so much about what babies need to thrive.

The above information was taken from Invisible Kids: Marcus Fiesel’s Legacy. Additional case studies and more in-depth information on advocating for very young children in foster care can be found in this book by child advocate and author Holly Schlaack. Invisible Kids is available in print or ebook editions. Discounts available for bulk orders. For more information, please visit www.invisiblekidsthebook.com.

*Sebastian's name has been changed to protect his identity.

“It is easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men.” Frederick Douglass.