Former Wednesday's Child finds a loving Colorado family, promising future
CBS News Colorado has been profiling children living in foster care since 1979. Over the years, many of those children have found their forever family due to those television stories. It's a win every time it happens.
Jalysa was one of those children. Over the years she was featured on CBS News Colorado several times. She spent 13 years in the foster care system and had 23 placements along the way.
"My dream was to have a mom and a dad and meet my siblings again," Jalysa told CBS News Colorado.
Jalysa's forever family at just the right moment.
"We found her and she was ... they were just getting ready to send her to Camber Children's Mental Health facility in Kansas City," said Michelle, Jalysa's adoptive mother.
"When I was going through a hard time in Kansas and I had a plan to just not be here on this earth no more ... for some reason, they just decided to show up and take me in. Then, the next few months later, they asked me if they wanted to adopt me, and they kind of crumbled my plan," Jalysa laughed as she recalled. "But it was a good reason."
Michelle and Clay officially adopted Jalysa in August of 2024. She is the biological half-sister to their twins, Tyler & Cody. Michelle and Clay adopted the twins when they were infants. They were born premature and spent two months in the NICU. Thirteen years later, they are thrilled to be reunited with their sister.
"I feel like I'm actually a part of something rather than feeling like an outcast," Jalysa said.
Being a part of something is a huge adjustment of Jalysa after years and years of being all alone. Michelle and Clay saw some big behaviors from Jalysa when she first came home with them.
"In the beginning, we saw more, where she struggled with it a lot harder. We had more kinds of meltdowns, I guess you could say," Clay explained.
"To trust that we love her, to allow herself to be loved, when her whole life she felt she wasn't worthy of love, that she couldn't be loved, that she never would be loved," Michelle said.
Her dream was to have a mom and a dad and meet her siblings again. She got that and so much more. She got comfort. She got a home. She got a foundation from which she can build a bright future. Jalysa is excited to go to college in the fall.
"I just want the other kids to know they might be going through a lot of difficult times and not feeling that they're loved or cared for and just... they don't have a family right now, but they'll either make one of their own or they can have one," she said.
LINK: A Day for Wednesday's Child
You can make a donation to support A Day for Wednesday's Child and help Raise the Future by calling 303-755-3975, or text 2025 DWC TO 71777, or click the link above.
