The Power of a Second Chance

“When you’re as broken as I was, you don’t have a lot left to lose.”

By every measure, Stephanie’s life was a mess. Years of addiction to prescription drugs had led to harder drug use; an unhealthy relationship pushed her into months of being sex trafficked. The State of Minnesota terminated her parental rights to her seven kids, and that loss drove Stephanie deeper into drugs and despair. In the depths of overwhelming brokenness, Stephanie discovered she was pregnant again. This revelation was the turning point.

“I didn’t want to lose another child. People had taken enough from me, so I ran away from everything I knew, determined to keep my daughter.” With fierce commitment, Stephanie was 60 days clean when her daughter Journey was born. But staying together wasn’t going to be easy. In Minnesota, after an involuntary termination of parental rights like Stephanie had experienced with her older children, all subsequent born children automatically become wards of the State. Minnesota would enter Journey into foster care.

But something unexpected happened: a social work reporting error shifted the balance. Suddenly, instead of Stephanie having to prove herself worthy to parent her newborn daughter, the burden fell to the State to prove that she was unfit. It was the break she needed, and Stephanie was committed to making the most of this second chance. She completed drug court, got an apartment and a full-time job, and regained visitation rights of her older children.

Through it all, Rachel’s Light was a steady support. From finding housing, learning to cook and manage finances, or providing transportation to treatment, the staff and volunteers at Rachel’s Light found a way to help. “The women at Rachel’s Light believed in me until I believed in myself. Regardless of the things I had gone through, they loved me. I gave them no reason to put their faith in me or to help me, and they did anyway. When you have people who believe in you, who uplift you, it’s amazing. They save lives.”

Now, three years sober, Stephanie serves as a board member for Rachel Light. It’s one way she’s giving back to the organization that supported her through a challenging season. “A lot of parents don’t get a second chance to show they can be a good parent and because of that their child is taken away and placed in the system. It’s difficult for recovering addicts to stay sober when their world is falling apart. If I can help pull a woman back to life, like Rachel’s Light and other support programs did for me, I want to do that. Sometimes it takes just one person to change the course of someone’s life entirely.”

Stephanie is excited about Rachel’s Light relocating to Oak Hill Community Connections because the expanded space will increase the number of women and families they can help. Reaching more people in need is a priority. “A lot of women and families aren’t given that second chance to prove themselves. With more resources available to help, we can do so much more.”