After spending 22 years of her life working in mortgage banking, Mollie Jelks admits she never found the sense of fulfillment she longed for. When her Citibank office relocated to St. Louis, Jelks wasn’t willing to follow. Instead, she picked up a temp job at the Children’s Bureau, a Southern California organization working with abused and neglected children, pairing them with loving foster and adoptive parents. She reflects, “I didn’t know what it meant to be a foster parent, I just wanted to help kids.”
Inspired by the children she saw daily at Children's Bureau, Jelks took in a foster child of her own. Jelks' biological children were grown, with the youngest finishing her last two years of high school. Jelks filled out an application, and before she knew it, she had a rambunctious five-year-old under her care. Jelks recalls, "Her name was Precious, but she was the opposite."
Despite Precious' best attempts to thwart her guardian's warmth, she soon found herself eager for her daily hugs from Jelks. A psychiatrist who worked with Precious was stunned at the difference. "What did you do to her? She's been in the system for 18 months. We thought she'd never give or receive love."
Jelks’ experience inspired her to keep going — over the last 16 years, she’s taken in 36 foster kids, many of whom came to her malnourished, scared by abuse or neglected by drug addicted parents. Four of the children that passed through Jelks’ doors never left — she adopted two boys and two girls.
To support her family, Jelks started a day care center on her property, based on the same principles she uses to raise her own children: "teaching love and sharing." Jelks now employs three staff members, each committed to her vision of fostering a "home away from home" for the youngsters.
*This story is courtesy of the Huffington Post*
The world could use more people like Mollie Jelks!!!!!!
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