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

[Card: DHS Child Welfare Services and Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS) work together to serve families who foster or adopt children with special needs.]

[Text: Dawn and Michael Jones, Zayden’s Parents
Photo: Dawn and Michael smiling with Zayden]

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. 

[Photo: Zayden, a young boy with short brown hair, fishing at a pond with other children doing the same in the background.]

DAWN: 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.

[Video: Dawn and Michael playing with Zayden on the floor in their home.]

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

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

DAWN: You know when he came here, they had him working on a kindergarten level. They said he just rolled around on the floor. They said he hit and bit and he would spit on you. He was very picky about what he ate -- and still is to an extent -- but had all kinds of, you know, behaviors that, a lot of them typical for a child with autism. He has just thrived. 

DARLA HILL-MYERS, CHILD WELFARE DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES EDUCATION UNIT: 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're needing 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. 

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.

[Text:  IEP – Individualized Education Plan]

DAWN: Zayden loves anything that has to do with motors and wants to be a mechanic; wants to be a ‘race car’ driver. Um, so they're gonna --  

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 it. The engine for a go-cart. You need to rebuild the old engine. You don’t need the old parts. You rebuild the old parts from the engine, that's four-stroke, old. You need a new one, that’s two-stroke. 

DAWN: Two-stroke engine. 

ZAYDEN: New! A new one for a go-cart. And then get a, you get go-cart parts and build it. Watch Zayden build it with Zayden's 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! We go to, he goes to school all day; he goes to regular classes. And in fact, he insists on being in a regular classroom with everybody else. 

MIKE: The other community has been real supportive of him; they've even, people will get out and we're walking, you know, riding bikes down the street, especially during the summer when it's nicer. They all know him and they wave and talk to him and he runs off out into the road to talk to ‘em and try to climb on their bikes with ‘em. You know, I mean he's got a bunch of, bunch of friends here. 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. And the real factor in all of that 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 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 somebody 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. It's just a matter of finding your way in, and anybody can do that. 

[Image: Zayden and his sisters in matching red-and-white-striped pajamas.]

[Oklahoma Department of Human Services logo. 
Produced by Office of Communications and Community Relations, Oklahoma Department of Human Services. 2017]