Youth Villages - 2018 Annual Report

THE
BRYSONS
As teenagers, Terra Bryson and her husband used
drugs some, but they had been sober for 10 years
and were raising three children when a moment of
vulnerability led to relapse.
Their three school-aged children were taken into
foster care. Terra was pregnant, and the baby was
taken into the child welfare system after birth. The
parents were heartbroken.
“We were told that you don’t come back from
this; you don’t get your children back,” Terra said.
“We refused to believe that, and we kept pushing
forward and pushing forward.”
Youth Villages’ YVIntercept family specialists
stepped in to help the couple complete the
requirements to reunite their family. The Brysons
underwent mental health assessments and attended
anger management and parenting classes, as well as
Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Specialists worked
with both parents and their children; the oldest
child was angry with her parents for what they’d
done, and at first, refused to come to visitation.
After 10 months of intensive support from Youth
Villages, the children came home safely. Terra
believes this tumultuous time in their lives helped
shape them into a stronger family.
“Our relationship with our kids is so much better
now, and I am really grateful for everything
that happened, as horrible as it was,” Terra said.
“Sometimes, you lose sight of how important and
how good things are, but we’ll never take it for
granted ever again.”
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