“K”
Before she came to SOS, K was scared and confused. She had been jostled from her birth mother, to a foster home and then to a shelter. There was alleged physical abuse at the foster home so K was moved to the shelter. K was sexually acting up, belligerent and just disobedient.
When the SOS staff visited her, she was not very communicative and did not want to come to SOS. But she changed her mind after she met with her SOS foster mom and agreed to give it a try.
Five months later, K is feeling successful. An energetic 9th grader, she is doing well in school, maintaining her honor roll status, excelling in Reading and Math. She is very competitive, and takes swimming lessons 4 days a week at the community center.
Although K struggles with asthma she has thrived at competitive swimming and has competed in two interschool swimming events. Her foster mom and her caseworker are really proud of what K has accomplished. She is ambitious, wants to become a realtor and do well in life when she leaves SOS. For the first time, K has seen structure in her life, and is thriving in this environment. Recently, a new teenager was added to K’s family and K is in the process of helping her new sister settle into their home.
“L”
L, a teenage member of our Village for nearly 12 years of her young life, has risen above the neglect that brought her to us. Today she is taking classes in nursing school, embracing a life and career centered on helping other. She is becoming a healer of her experience with us. What a gift this beautiful young girls life will be to so many people!
“T”
A recent graduate from the Lockport Village, T came to SOS in 1994 at the age of 10 along with her brother, who was 12. The second child to a single 16 year old mom, DCFS sent T to SOS due to neglect. T’s biological mom had twelve children in all, of which eight are at the Lockport Village. T’s SOS mom says T was a very shy and quiet young lady when she came to her. When T was with her mother, she and her brother were the parental figures to their 6 younger siblings.
When T moved into SOS with her new foster family, she got to be a child again and she thrived in the atmosphere. She did well in school and graduated from high school.
In 2004, T celebrated her wedding with her family, as well as the entire SOS Village, and moved into a Lockport home.
Today T has two children, a supportive husband and works part time.
T is doing so well with her own children, giving them the time and the attention they need, that she would like to become a relief parent at the SOS Lockport Village.
T also intends to go back to college and study interior design.
“I don’t think of the Village as SOS or a foster family. It is pretty much my home and my family. I have my 6 brothers and sisters with Sandra. They are my family, the people I go home to visit.” - T
