Micah
When Pam Johnson, a social worker with the Department of Children’s Services received the file on Micah, an infant placed at Nazareth Home, she had no idea how this case would eventually change her life and that of her entire family. Micah’s mother, herself a ward of the state, had given birth to Micah at age 14. During many interactions, and on a particular trip to Indianapolis for one of several surgeries, Pam found herself bonding with Micah, which left her with the nagging question: “why doesn’t someone step up and care for this child?” And the answer that came was, “why not me?”
Pam’s husband Cliff shared her desire to make a difference in the life of this little baby who was in great need of love, attention, and care. Pam’s experience during the trip to Indianapolis was the final bonding needed! Working through the system toward adoption, even for a veteran case worker, has its stops and starts, ups and downs and frustrations, but Pam and Cliff were able to win their quest to foster, and ultimately adopt Micah.
Cliff and Pam offer a unique perspective on nurturing when it comes to foster and adoptive parenting—they also have an adoptive daughter, as well as a biological daughter. In comparing their parenting experiences between their two adoptive children, they cite the vastly different foster home experiences they each had prior to coming to live with them—the loving, supportive, and secure home environment of Nazareth Home versus the institutional, often transient, and traumatic environment experienced in traditional foster care. Cliff summed up the difference: “Between Nazareth Home and our home, there was never a time when he [Micah] did not experience love and nurturing, and cuddling. Whereas when we reflect on our experience with our daughter, we realize how bad it is not to have love—even for a day!”
Working in the welfare system, Pam is in an exceptional position to know the inadequacies of the foster care system, stating, “There’s a world of difference in the Nazareth Home experience and the long-term foster care system. Nazareth Home provides a unique connectedness to an entire family of people who have cared for Micah, remember him, and who continue to be interested in his well-being—like a family!” Cliff adds, “The whole idea of the [volunteer] cuddlers is a great model because it gives the babies the confidence to get up and walk and explore and learn.”
Nazareth Home Brochure
Download Now!For more information, please contact:
Jean Bowman
(219) 616-8845
P.O. Box # 3067
East Chicago, IN 46312-8067