Canyon Acres Children and Family Successes…

“CHRISTOPHER”

Chris’s Story

Before Canyon Acres
Chris was a frightened, lonely young boy, who was removed from his birth parents and assorted step-parents because they had failed to protect him from serious physical and emotional damage. He was placed in the child welfare system and, sadly, was moved from one facility to another, spending his time going between emergency shelter homes, foster homes, and group homes. Several of his moves were followed by psychotic episodes of paranoia that were at times life threatening. As Chris neared the age of 18 and was due to be emancipated from the child welfare system, many who were working his case thought that he would need a special guardian to take care of his mental and physical needs as well as his adult affairs. Chris was far behind in school with little hope of living on his own, much less graduating from high school.

Fortunately, two people saw a spark in Chris and believed he could be saved. One was a social worker, the other a psychologist. These two individuals started advocating for a different plan for Chris. The plan included placing him in a hand-picked foster home and referral to the Canyon Acres Wraparound and Creating Family Connections Programs. The goal was to find lost family members that might care about Chris and help him to graduate from high school and eventually become an independent adult. This is a lofty goal for most foster children, but for Chris, it seemed almost impossible!

After Canyon Acres
With a literal “Army” for a Canyon Acres Wraparound Team, consisting of his social worker, a psychologist, a therapist, a mentor, a youth partner, special education advocates, foster parents, tutors, a care coordinator, and a parent partner, Chris was guided down a very bumpy, sometimes very curvy road with lots of pitfalls as he headed towards success. With the support of his Canyon Acres team, Chris enrolled in public school for the first time as a senior, caught up on all his credits, and graduated with his class. Creating Family Connections was able to locate his grandfather who was living in Nevada. Several visits were arranged and a bond quickly formed. The grandfather expressed a desire to have Chris live with him.

Today, Chris is living with his grandfather, has a full time job, his own bank account, and is making new friends.