When Larissa Retchless left Parkland Hospital’s labor and delivery in 2017, she left alone.She had barely laid eyes on her one-week-old daughter, Kennedy, let alone gotten the chance to hold her. And she didn’t know when or if she’d ever be able to.
For a decade, Dania Carter and her nonprofit Heart of Courage have helped Dallas mothers reunite with their children.When Larissa Retchless left Parkland Hospital’s labor and delivery ward in 2017, she left alone.
Kennedy’s birth was chaotic. Retchless experienced placenta abruption, which cut off her daughter's oxygen. The lack of oxygen caused the baby’s brain to bleed. She needed to be resuscitated immediately after the delivery via Caesarean section. The newborn received three shots of epinephrine, a drug administered during CPR to reverse cardiac arrest.
As she researched, she was alarmed by the number of children in state care and the lack of resources available to mothers trying to get them back. “We have mothers that are saying, ‘I want this to stop at my generation. I don't want my kids to have to go through what I went through,’” Carter says. “And where's the support for this?”
These priority goals are paired with a plan with CPS, to help the mothers become self-sufficient. Mothers are assigned a peer advocate, many of whom are also mothers who have successfully gone through the Heart of Courage program. They help set up an action plan and connect clients with community resources.
Carter went to court with Retchless and helped her understand legal jargon and to make sense of the court's demands. Carter served as Retchless’ CPS-required support system.
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