The Gift of Leevi

Hello my friends and family,

I need your help. I had the pleasure meeting Michael; a great young, hardworking man through my place of work, and his story of how he’s basically going “All In” to save his nephew from being in foster care and probably lost in a broken system is simply amazing and selfless. In order to finish the adoption process he’s having to put everything on hold here in Texas and move to Florida; which is crazy to think that it’s the cheaper route to complete the adoption process but he’s done everything he can from Texas and will be moving to Florida on December 1st to start the 6 to 9 month final process to guarantee that little Leevi grows up in his own family. Unfortunately for my friend Leevi, he was born to a young, selfish woman and an absent father. Leevi’s mother is not able to provide for her son and has given up her parental rights.

I’ve meet Leevi a few times and from the moment I did, I could tell he was a special, funny and very loved little boy that deserves the love that Uncle Michael will provide. I know I have a lot of people looking to help and Michael would really appreciate and needs our help at this time of the year. Below is a description of the life of Leevi, before Uncle Mike stepped in and devoted his everything to ensure Leevi would have an opportunity to know his family, experience a loving and properly looked after childhood.

In June of last year, Leevi had a near death experience that has changed the course of many lives within the Bareford family. Last summer seemed like any other summer. Michael received a call informing him that Leevi was in the hospital after almost drowning in a lake.

On what seemed like an ordinary day, good Samaritans were leaving their apartment complex when they spotted a young child who was walking in the middle of the road. They immediately stopped their car and they both went to help the child. The gentleman went to the apartment that they thought the child may have wandered off from, and the woman went to approach the child. As she got closer to the child, he quickly spun around and ran off toward a large lake that was near the entrance of the apartment complex. The woman began running after him as he was headed straight to the lake. Before she could get to the child, he had already made it to the edge of the lake and within seconds the child disappeared under the water. The woman immediately started praying asking God to somehow help her save this child and into the water she went. The gentleman hearing his wife’s prayers to God, spun around to see his wife in the lake pulling the submerged child out of the water. The man started running towards his wife, pulling out his cell phone to call for help.

The woman turned out to be Leevi’s guardian angel.

There have been a lot of challenges to overcome this past year. Arrangements had to be made to relocate Leevi from Florida to Texas which was a long process to undertake. When working with any state agencies on a local level, the process moves at a very slow pace. After four months of Leevi being in foster care, he made it to Texas.

In situations such as this, there is no time to prepare for anything like you would with a normal adoption process. Leevi only came with the clothes on his back so there were a lot of things that Michael needed to provide for Leevi.

The past year has been difficult for Michael. This young man has gone from building a life for himself to becoming a single parent. Every step of the way since this journey began, he has faced so many challenges without complaint and he had many challenges to face that at times were really overwhelming for anyone let alone a new parent. Michael has taken every hurdle life has thrown at him in stride with a smile on his face. Leevi was developmentally delayed in a lot of areas of life before Michael came along. Michael had Leevi evaluated by Occupational and Speech Therapists to help him catch up. After many months of therapy, Leevi graduated from his therapies and continues to progress with his childhood milestones. Due to this new chapter, Michael has had to learn to adapt to unforeseen obstacles that many parents might not deal with like having a child that’s a ward of the state, specialized doctors appointments or procedures, court dates, welfare appointment, sick days, and school closures. Despite all that has been thrown at him, he has managed to hold down a job, pay his bills, and not once has he sought help outside the family. Michael is a hard worker during his day job and also takes on other odd jobs to help make ends meet. There has been very little assistance that has been available during this process over the past year. The state has helped with childcare assistance and health insurance, which he is grateful to receive, but he does not qualify for food assistance.

The funding collected will go directly to help Michael establish housing in Florida, a requirement in the adoption process and also help get the bare necessities while Michael finds employment to provide for young Leevi. I couldn’t imagine uprooting and heading to another state without anything setup. I know he’s currently seeking employment in Florida but it would make the transition smoother and be much easier if he had a little help from his friends.

Please consider helping my friend Michael and Leevi make it to Florida and get the last step in the adoption process completed so they can settle in and focus on Leevi’s future growth. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and I appreciate everyone.