Bring Merrah Home
Please allow this story being shared to bring awareness to mental health, emotional health and the impact it has on children and hopefully inspire a little kindness and generosity towards helping baby Merrah in this time of great need.
Merrah, age 3, was recently taken out of state by her mother, the non custodial parent, without permission. (technically this is kidnapping). Her father, Austin, finally located her, she was placed into foster care while with her mother and now Austin is fighting to bring her back home.
Unfortunately Merrah’s mom suffers from severe mental illness and drug abuse, and now Merrah is in temporary custody of the state of IL. Merrah’s father, Austin is traveling out of state and going through the process to bring Merrah home and working hard to re-establish Merrah’s home back in CO with him. Due to being a single father who is working very long hours for low wages in order to provide for Merrah, any financial help would be a blessing to help him meet Merrah’s needs before she arrives back home and help her be as comfortable as possiblewhen she returns home to CO. As a 3 year old this is a very traumatic event and the smallest comforts in addition to her basic needs being met are very important. Austin is forced to repurchase all the toddler gear and necessities after this incident (completely from scratch: all was lost). These donations are to make Merrah’s arrival back home comfortable after what she has endured. These donations would be used for new clothing, toys, car seat, bedding, nightlight, food, stuffed animals, bathe items, safety kits (thermometer, Motrin, safety gate etc) and toddler tableware etc.
If you prefer to donate by purchasing an item off of the Target registry this way you can choose what Merrah receives, please click the Target Registry Link:Bring Merrah Home
Gently used items will also be accepted. For shipping info please message me.
Any help is a big help to Merrah! Thank you!
AWARENESS
Mental Health and Substance Abuse:
It is estimated that about 17.5 million Americans over the age of 18 (or 8 percent of the adult population) had a serious mental health disorder in the past year. Of these, about 4 million people also struggled with a co-occurring drug or alcohol dependency.
Foster Care:
Nationally, nearly 105,000 children from birth to age 3 entered foster care in federal fiscal year.
Emotional Awareness of Child Transitioning Back Home:
Infants and toddlers who are removed from their home and placed in foster care need special consideration and guidance through the grieving process, in their relationships, and through transitions from one caregiver to another. Because they may be non-verbal or lack the developmental ability and maturity to understand what is happening to them, let alone articulate it, their feelings are easily overlooked or misinterpreted. Young children in foster care suffer the same grief and loss and doubts that older children do, without the ability to express what they’re feeling.
Parental Abduction:
Most kidnapped children are taken by a parent. That doesn’t mean they’re safe.The Justice Department reports that although an estimated 155,800 children are victims of “serious” parental abductions each year, only 30,500 police reports are officially registered, 9,200 cases are officially opened in prosecutors’ offices, an estimated 4,500 arrests for parental abduction are made, and 3,500 criminal complaints are filed. In a national survey of law enforcement offices, about half of the 17,000 responding offices said they always refuse to take a missing-child report for a parentally abducted child, instead viewing it as a private family issue or a matter for family court.