Stories from Caregivers: Sherry from IDAHO
ID
Sherry
FROM IDAHO
I am writing about my family, Joe & Sherry Phillips. We take care of our "grandson" Tristn Griffis. Tristn came into our lives in 1999, he was 8 mos. old. One look at him and we had lost our hearts forever. We took on the role of STEP-grandparents to this adorable little boy. When the marriage between our son and Tristn's mom fell apart in 2002 it broke out hearts. We thought we would loose our "grandson". But to our surprise the mother approached us to take guardianship of Tristn. Yes, we were shocked but, we looked into this young child's eyes and we knew we had to take care of him. We now have full custody of him. It has been a decision we never regretted doing. A lot of work because Tristn is a special needs child. But we have never let him use his diagnosis of Autism as a crouch. He has had to have speech therapy, and behavioral help, but he is an amazing young man! Tristn has a heart of gold. When ever he sees or hears of anyone in need he is the first to want to help. I, Sherry, have helped him with many fundraisers. I make quilts and he raffles them off. He has raised money for his music teacher,the funds went for recorders for the homeless children in his school. He has raised money for a babies headstone. He, with our help, bought Christmas for the homeless shelter in our area.( There were 39 kids.) He also takes the shelter other items thru out the year. I have made many blankets for this young man but the pay off is amazing! He doesn't have time to dwell on his own self when helping others less fortunate. Taking on someone else's child to raise can be a struggle. But it has been the most awarding challenge we have taken on. We have seen a young child who couldn't talk, and couldn't socialize to become a loving caring young man! He has a bright future ahead of him because we cared enough to take on the role of "parent". I would encourage anyone who had the opportunity to help a child to do so. We don't have a big fancy house, or lots of money. But we have something that is priceless and that is LOVE! We love this child with all our hearts and wouldn't trade the experience for anything. And the best part of all is this child loves us back! I am sure we will be busy doing more fundraisers because there will always be a need some where. And Tristn will be ready to step up and do the right thing. I am very proud of him.
