Jon's Story

By age ten, Jon had already learned that grown-ups aren’t to be trusted. First, his mother abandoned him, then, he was adopted by a couple who believed strict discipline was what active boys need most.

By the seventh grade, Jon was chaffing under his parents’ rules and began fighting at school. One day, Jon's anger and frustration boiled over and he injured a classmate. A juvenile judge sent him to a detention program for a year. When he completed the program, he learned his parents had terminated the adoption. Deeply disappointed and with nowhere else to go, Jon was referred to the Parent Therapist (PT) Program at D.A. Blodgett - St. John’s. “We offer extra training for foster parents willing to provide homes for troubled youngsters,” says Program Manager, Mary Jo Sabaitis.



PT foster parents are trained to communicate effectively, provide discipline, and handle behavioral emergencies. Social work therapists assigned to each family provide counseling and support. Foster children in the PT program, who range from age six to seventeen, have access to free medical, dental, and psychiatric care.



Jon clearly qualified as “troubled.” “When we first saw him, he was really an angry kid,” recalls Sabaitis. “But when one of our veteran PT couples heard about his broken adoption, they wanted to give him another chance.” Jon soon became part of their big, active household of two—now three—foster teens.

But, even with their training and experience, Jon's foster parents and teachers found him a challenging child. Jon spent much of ninth grade in the school’s suspension room. With his parent’s encouragement, Jon tried out for the junior varsity basketball team the next year. His foster parents came to every game, even when he sat on the bench. Jon enjoyed this new attention, and with time, basketball became more than a hobby—it was his salvation. In his junior and senior years, Jon began studying harder, thinking about college, and became a starter on the varsity squad.



“Like a lot of teens, Jon discovered himself when he found his passion,” Sabaitis says. “He developed his talents, social skills, and his need to succeed. I give the credit to two special parents who were very literally ‘there for him’-- in the stands for every game. In their home, Jon has made remarkable progress.”



Now seventeen, Jon realizes his life could have been different. “He is really appreciative of his foster parents and the opportunities they have given him,” Sabaitis says. “Jon had a lot of strikes against him, but today he’s getting ready for college. He blossomed in the Parent Therapist program—which is just what it was designed to do.”