For Daniel, Andrew and Lily, early childhood was a time of chaos and fear.
Between 2018 and 2023, their family was investigated by Child Protective Services (CPS) for child neglect related to drug addiction at least once a year. In 2023, the children were removed after baby Lily was hit in the face by her father. He was found with multiple illegal drugs and guns in his possession. All three children tested positive for cocaine upon their removal.
They were assigned Dallas CASA volunteer Mallory, who met three deeply traumatized children. They were placed with one foster placement after another, each one disrupted due to the boys’ behaviors, which included biting, spitting, screaming, hitting and pulling hair. Both boys were speech-delayed and needed occupational therapy.
“Everyone wanted baby Lily because the boys were having so many behavioral issues,” Mallory said. “But Lily had two brothers, and I knew the siblings needed to be together if possible.”
The children’s father completed court-ordered services to be reunified with his children, and CPS moved to reunify the children with their father. Over the next few weeks, both boys were kicked out of five different daycares due to their aggressive behaviors. They were kicked out of a sixth after their father threatened physical harm to daycare staff.
“I would go to visit, and they looked healthy, clean and fed,” Mallory said. “But I remained concerned. They were withdrawn and acted afraid. They didn’t really speak at all. They were not coming out of their protective shells.”
After the children were reunified with their father, he was arrested again for the distribution of illegal drugs out of the home he shared with the children.
When her Dallas CASA supervisor called to say the children had come back into foster care, Mallory didn’t skip a beat. She accepted the case a second time, becoming the only constant in the lives of three young children marked by chaos.
This time, the children were placed in three separate foster homes, and Mallory knew finding a foster placement ready to deal with the boys’ behavioral issues was the primary concern. She knew the boys needed routine, consistency and lots of therapy. Working together, CPS and Mallory placed all three children with an experienced foster care provider in East Texas, beginning with Daniel, then Andrew and finally Lily.
“Right away, I noted their behaviors were improving,” Mallory said. “It was night and day. The kids bonded tightly to the foster mother and were doing so, so well.”
The foster placement was both experienced and organized. She had the boys on a routine right away and enrolled them in therapies and services to support their speech and behavioral challenges.
Mallory remembers a moment on one visit when she realized the children were truly happy: the kids wanted her to see their bedrooms. For the first time in three years of knowing them, the children took Mallory by the hand and were proud to show her their bedrooms.
“It’s such a normal thing for a child to do, but they had never done that before. For the first time, they had an involved parent meeting both their needs and wants and giving them time and attention,” Mallory said. “I didn’t always have those things myself as a child, and that’s the whole reason I do what I do.”
All three children were adopted last year by their foster placement.
“Mallory did not stop until all three children were placed together, in a foster home that would take them forever,” her volunteer supervisor, Stephan, said. “Her hard work led directly to keeping the kids in the only home that had nurtured and supported them as a sibling group.”
