Family Reunification Celebration: Mothers tell their triumphant stories
JACKSON COUNTY, Fla (WMBB) – Celebrations continue around the Panhandle in honor of National Family Reunification Month.
Friday's celebration, on June 13, highlighted Jackson County families that have been brought together again.
'They told me they were trying to terminate my rights and they were going to adopt my children out and my father would get them and I would have no more contact,' Mother Jessica Bailey said.
Parents who once had their children taken away from them by the court stood proudly before their community Friday, bravely sharing their stories.
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'It was devastating because, you know, even though I had turned my life around and started getting better, I knew there was also consequences for the bad decisions I had made prior,' Bailey said.
Bailey, a mother of five, worked the program, gave her life to God, and eventually got the good news that her family could be a strong unit once again.
In instances where addiction and trauma once held firm grips over these parents, on Friday, parents held firm grips over their futures.
'If you know, my story can inspire others, then that's just what it's meant to do. You know, I've been through a lot and I'm only 24, so I feel like I just want to share my story and I can help somebody one day,' Mother Emma Ellis said.
Ellis bravely told her story, a story of abandonment, a story where she survived being raped not once, but three times before the age of 21. She said her life experiences turned to addiction when she found freedom in a drug.
Eventually, her daughter Amyah was removed from her care in 2022.
Over the years, Ellis would go through more than just a case plan before getting her daughter back. She would end up in jail for going to a detox in Bay County instead of Jackson County, breaking her probation.
And she would bring new life into the world again.
'I had found out I was pregnant when I got released from jail on February 8, 2023, six months of house arrest, five years probation, I lived two doors down from my drug dealer, but I never went. I entered rehab, not long after, I was at the nine-month mark of my case plan, and four months clean,' Ellis explained.
Ellis graduated from rehab, but a happy ending still wasn't in sight.
'I was terrified. I thought I had done too much damage that no amount of healing for the race the past. But I finished my case plan. I done everything they asked and more. And when the judge looked at me, Judge Garcia, she didn't just she didn't just see who I'd been. She had saw who I'd become. They could not terminate my rights. I proved my caseworker wrong,' Ellis continued.
Judge Garcia publicly commended each of the families, acknowledging that dependency court is never an easy place to be.
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Garcia tasked the success stories to look for opportunities where they can set examples for other struggling parents.
The 14th Judicial Circuit has a dire need for foster parents.
To learn more about becoming a foster parent in your community, click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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