Reuniting families for holidays

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 2, 2007

It was the middle of last summer when she lost the right to be a mom.

Authorities had found her passed out at home when she was supposed to be caring for her two young children.

She has been sober now for six months.

She and her husband, seated to her right, were commended recently during a "Home for the Holidays" reunification at the Sarasota YMCA's Safe Children Coalition.

"We celebrate adoptions, but the true success is what you guys did," said Alan Abramowitz, a Department of Children and Families administrator.

The couple's elementary-age children were put in protective custody after the incident. Family members' names are being withheld to protect their privacy.

Because the father is frequently out of town on business, relatives kept the children while the mother, her back to camera, completed an alcohol abuse treatment plan.

To help put families back together, caseworkers meet to decide whether children in foster care should be home with their families for the holidays. This also reduces the number of cases for each caseworker. "It's all about the caseloads, and doing what's best for the child," Abramowitz said.

[Last modified December 1, 2007, 23:19:06]