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Amber has chosen to share her powerful story with us in hopes to inform and inspire current foster youth to see possibilities for their future, and know they are deserving of love. She is inspiring, resilient, and sheds light on what some youth experience in, and leading up to, foster care.  

​Amber's Story, part I: "A pretty face can get you anything."

“Your sister might die,” Amber overheard her Mother, Mary, tell her little sister, Ann. Amber was 7 years old lying in a bed at Loyola Children’s hospital in Chicago. She needed emergency surgery to correct Chiari malformation.

“Sir! you need to leave, sir…,” Amber heard through a cloud of anesthesia wearing off. She awoke from her surgery to her mother and father arguing, resulting in security escorting her father, Michael, out of the hospital. She won’t see him again until she is 14 years old. She was scared, confused and in so much pain, but being at the hospital provided a sense of safety that she didn’t get at home.

Since she was 2 years old, Amber lived with her mother, her sister, and her sister’s dad, Bill. Although neither Bill nor Mary offered Amber much comfort at home, Amber remembers Bill being very involved and taking videos at the hospital. “The hospital staff were all so loving. I remember the nurses telling me to slow down, but all I wanted to do is move; I was walking and talking the first day!” Amber vividly remembers the magic toilet paper in the hospital magic show, and being discharged on Valentine’s Day of 1999.
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A few months later, her mother suddenly announced she was leaving Bill and taking the girls to Tennessee where Grandma C and Grandpa B lived. Soon after, Mary met a man named Derek at a bar and they got married the very next day.  Amber, her sister, and mother moved into Derek’s trailer about twenty minutes from Grandma C and Grandpa B. This would be the start of two horrifying years of fear, abuse, and becoming the main caretaker of her 6-year-old sister. “There was no one else to make sure Ann was safe, no one to feed her or get her to school… there was no one.” Amber was only 8 years old at the time, an age marked and remembered by the first time she watched her Mother use cocaine. 
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​Since 1995, Our Children's Homestead (OCH) has played an integral role in supporting Illinois' youth and families experiencing foster care.  
OCH contracts with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to provide therapeutic foster care to youth placed under specialized contracts.  OCH serves youth from birth-21 years old, with the majority being 12years+, who have been removed from their homes due to severe abuse, neglect or dependency. OCH supports clients who struggle with a combination of medical, developmental, mental health and behavioral issues that require intensive services.
We empower parents to heal and grow so that their children can be returned to them. If they are unable, we immediately work to identify an adoptive family for the youth; however, the sad truth is that not all youth get adopted.  We support each youth to recognize and develop the power within them to become joyful, self-reliant, healthy, and successful adults.
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"I have been in the system since I could remember, somewhere around 5 or 6. I was placed in about 15 different foster homes and 3 group homes. When I was a teenager I was placed into a new agency that ultimately changed my life. The best foster home I was in I was her first foster girl and she took a huge leap of faith for me. From there..."

Finish reading Danielle's story here
​Mission:
To support and strengthen children and families in their toughest, most vulnerable moments.

Vision: 
A world where children are safe and families are connected.
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Leading in Foster Care and Adoptions since 1995


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  • Home
  • DONATE
  • services
    • Therapeutic Foster Care
    • Adoption
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Foster Parent
    • Volunteer
    • Join Our Team
  • About Us
    • Annual/Financial Reports
    • Annual Impact Reports
  • News/Events
    • Wish Wall
    • Success Stories
  • Amber's story