Jessica never planned to be a mom.
She had a Paris trip booked. Clothes picked out. A whole life mapped out.
Then her 12-year-old nephew, Jake, called her sobbing. Jake is blind. He was scared and exhausted, and he had been left in charge of his little brother, Dylan, while their mom was out. Child protective services got involved. Jake came to live with Jessica. Then Dylan, who had never once been to school, came too.
“I was terrified,” Jessica says. “I kept thinking, ‘Find somebody else. I can’t do this.’”
Dylan had been through so much trauma that a knock at the door would send him running to hide under a pile of blankets. Then one day, he poked his head out and ran to her.
“I just knew. I’m it. He has nobody else. And I’m not going anywhere,” Jessica says.
She canceled the Paris trip. Her savings disappeared. She felt completely alone.
Then Wayfinder came into her life.
“They said, ‘We’ve got you,’” Jessica shares. “They gave me resources, programs and guidance. Things I didn’t even know I needed. I genuinely do not believe I could have done this without Wayfinder.”
Jake is 18 now. He lives independently and knows how to advocate for himself. Dylan is nine, in third grade, and calls their movie nights “cozy time.” Jessica is finalizing his adoption.
Most people have heard of foster care and adoption. But few think about kinship care, the option that keeps children with family members or close friends. The research is clear: children do better when they stay connected to family.
Jessica didn’t have to do it alone, and no one else should either. When an aunt, a grandparent or a family friend steps up, they shouldn’t have to raise a child alone. That is exactly what Wayfinder’s kinship programs make possible: a whole team standing behind them.
Somewhere right now, there is a child hiding under a pile of blankets.
And there is someone who loves them, who just needs us to say: we’ve got you.
Please consider making a gift today!
October 13, 2026