[Zayden: You Can’t be Scared Because of a Label]

[No Audio:  DHS Child Welfare Services and Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) work 
together to serve families who foster or adopt children with special needs.]

[No Audio:  Dawn and Michael Jones, Zayden’s Parents]

DAWN: We hadn’t even thought about fostering a foster child – it wasn’t even on our mind. Our 
last child was going to be graduating in another year or so and then we were gonna be ‘child-
free.’ But my niece and Michael’s niece, saw on Facebook, I guess, a video of Zayden and she 
sent it to us and said, “Aunt Dawn, you’ve gotta take this little boy in your home.” And I 
watched the video and sent it to Michael and he said, “Call and see what happens.” And so we 
did and didn’t ever think that anything would happen with it. 

And then just out of the blue, they called us and asked us to come up and see him and we 
brought him home a couple days later for a visit and when he was here visiting, he claimed our 
house as his house; just kept saying, “Zayden’s house, Zayden’s house!” And came back the 
next week for an overnight visit, but never left (laughs). And so we’ve had him ever since! We 
just fell in love with him (laughs). He just became part of our family and we just – he just 
became part of us. We just couldn’t turn him away.

DAWN: When he first came, he did not use utensils; he was not potty-trained.

MIKE: He didn’t speak anything other than one-word sentences. 

DAWN: They had him working on a kindergarten level. They said he just rolled around on the 
floor. They said he hit and he would spit on you. And now, we tell him it’s time to take a shower 
and he goes in and bathes himself, he washes his own hair, he uses utensils at mealtimes. In 
fact, he’ll use the microwave to make his own little pizzas or his own little snacks! He has just 
thrived. We were finally able to just sit down and get a really good test result out of him and he 
can test up to a 5th grade level. He doesn’t always work on that level, but you know – he tests 
up to that level – so we know he has it; we know he’s in there. He’s got it – he was just never 
expected to use it. 

[No Audio:  Darla Hill-Myers, Child Welfare Developmental Disabilities Education Unit]

DARLA HILL-MYERS: We staff all the children that come through child welfare that have any 
type of developmental disabilities. The really neat thing that we have put in place is that the 
case managers and DDS will work with that home and work with the child welfare specialist to 
make sure we’re getting all the services we need to get set up in that home. So if they need 
any kind of occupational therapy, if they’re needing speech therapy, if they’re needing some 
assistance with IEP in the school system, we all work together to ensure that we’re getting 
those services set up for the family. 

[No Audio:  IEP – Individualized Education Plan]

Lots of times, like in Zayden’s case in what people dub as ‘non-verbal’ – really, we talk about 
how children – all children communicate. And once you find out what’s really important to a 
child, you can motivate that child and you can help that child thrive in their environment.

DAWN: Zayden loves anything that has to do with motors and wants to be a mechanic; wants 
to be a ‘race car’ driver. 

MIKE: We’re gonna rebuild an engine for a go-cart and then we’re gonna eventually rebuild a 
go-cart.

ZAYDEN: You can rebuild the engine for a go-cart. You need to rebuild the old engine. Don’t 
need the old parts. You need a new one that’s two-stroke. 

DAWN: Two-stroke engine. 

ZAYDEN: A new one for a go-cart. And get go-cart parts and build it. Zayden got his tools.

DARLA: Children with developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, 
co-occurring mental health – any of those issues: they’re still children, they’re still wanting to 
play on the playground; they still want to go to the zoo; they still want to eat Mac ‘n Cheese 
and not green beans. They want to do all the same things that all of the kids that we encounter 
every day want to do. 

DAWN: He’s just like any other kid! He goes to school all day; he goes to regular classes. In 
fact, he insists on being in a regular classroom with everybody else. 

MIKE: The community has been real supportive of him; they all know him and they wave and 
talk to him and he runs off into the road to talk to ‘em and try to climb on their bikes with ‘em. 
We go into local cafés and they already know Zayden wants chicken strips and Doritos; that’s 
what he wants. 

DARLA: When you’re the parent and you’re seeing what they’re really made of and you’re 
seeing past all the stuff that’s written down on paper, those kids respond. The real factor in all 
of this is that you will be blessed twice as much by one of these children than anything you 
could do for them. And we really just try to let foster parents change a little bit of what they’re 
seeing on paper and just look at the child and get to know them for who they are.

DAWN: You just can’t be scared because of a label. And that’s all that “special needs” is – a 
label that’s been put on them because they do have something that they do need a little more 
care. But you can’t let that stop you – you can’t let that scare you. All they need is someone to 
give them some stability, they need someone that can give them some love and they need, 
they need that comfort – and to know that, you know, they’re gonna be OK – they’re gonna be 
safe.

[Image: Zayden and his sisters.]

You just never, never know that there’s not a child out there that you’re just not gonna fall just 
head over heels in love with. It’s all about finding your own way in – and anybody can do that.

[No Audio:  Oklahoma Department of Human Services logo.  Produced by Office of 
Communications and Community Relations, Oklahoma Department of Human Services.  2017]