# @raisingculturesfamily on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DYZna3DxS8Y
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/65706540-raisingculturesfamily-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/d25ce7d009.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-16T12:56:43.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Keia Jones Baldwin (@raisingculturesfamily) — https://gondola.cc/raisingculturesfamily

## Caption

This month is Foster Care Awareness Month and in July of 2017, we received a phone call about a newborn baby in the NICU. He was tiny, fragile, and fighting before he even had a chance to experience the world. He stayed in the NICU for two months before he was finally stable enough and gained enough weight to come into our care. That tiny NICU baby grew into a toddler who was diagnosed with a pain disorder. At just 2 years old, he needed emergency ear surgery because his ear canals were nearly closed. He could barely hear, and it significantly impacted his speech and development. By age 3, he was enrolled in speech therapy, diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, and beginning to show some very extreme behavioral concerns. Then Covid hit. Resources shut down. Therapies stopped. The world paused…but motherhood didn’t. So I became everything he needed me to be. I became his speech therapist, occupational therapist, behavioral specialist, play therapist… on top of just trying to be “mom.” We worked relentlessly. Long days. Hard days. Tear-filled days. Days where I questioned if I was doing enough. And now fast forward to the beginning of 3rd grade…

He graduated out of speech therapy EARLY. They expected him to need services until at least 5th grade, but they were blown away by how far he had come in such a short amount of time.

This is the same child who once became so anxious during testing that he had to be sent to the office just to call me. This same child walked into 3rd grade, took his EOGs, and PASSED them. We worried so much about this transition year… but God reminded us that He did not give us a spirit of fear. And as if that wasn’t enough…this former NICU foster baby, the child some people counted out before he even had a fair chance, became Citizen of the Month. I cannot even put into words how proud I am of him. His story reminds me daily that it’s not how your story starts because that’s just the beginning of your book. ❤️ #raisingcultures #fostercareawareness

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,593
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 42

## Tags

raisingcultures, fostercareawareness

---
Copyright (c) Gondola