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Foster Kids Worth Saving

A man In Minnesota said, “Give him your troubled and your troublemakers, the ones on the fast track to no good. The ones with drug problems and rap sheets. The ones nobody else seems to want.” He is happy to take them to probation hearings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and even the dentist. He’s taken them in for a few months or a few years. He’s taken them in at 1 a.m. when they’re acting up somewhere else. He’s put them to work on his farm and called them “sir,” even when they call him four-letter words. He’s seen them off to college, to the Marines – and if things went wrong, to prison, from where they send letters and call him collect. He’s one of the few people who will answer. Soon, he’ll see the last ones off, because he is retiring.

Decades ago – before he became the most sought-after foster parent in Dakota County, before his hobby farm in rural Lakeville became a sanctuary for wayward boys – he needed saving. He was intimately familiar with the judicial system. As an adult, he sold cars; as a teenager, he stole them. His home life was stable enough but plagued by alcohol issues. At 18, he joined the Marines Corps Reserves at the nudging of the court system. It instilled in him a sense of discipline and routine he had lacked. But it didn’t derail his own burgeoning alcohol abuse. He found himself in and out of rehab more than once. Finally, at age 32, while climbing a flight of stairs in yet another treatment facility during yet another low point, he had an epiphany.

If you have a problem with addiction, there is help available. Do not wait until you hit bottom to make the call. Seek treatment today. At Seabrook, we provide addiction treatment for every level of care needed. We offer outpatient services.

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