When Jennifer Tveter of Derry, New Hampshire, started working at an anti-domestic violence organization, she knew that her calling was to help people who were traumatized by either being the victims of or by witnessing violence in the house.
Tveter knew that her heart was full of love and support for those adults and children who had no one to turn to when their whole world crumbled due to a toxic home environment.
So, when she was given the opportunity to help the foster care program and host three siblings, she was more than happy.
“The beginning was extremely difficult. We had therapists in our house every single day,” Jennifer Tveter told Metro.co.uk.
The three siblings, Jonathan, Benjamin, and Madeline, today 10, 8, and 6 years old respectively, were taken in by Tveter and that was the beginning of a healing process that took a long time to be effective.
“The first year we focused on the children feeling safe, working on trauma and crisis control. The second year we could start working on bonding and learning how to be a kid. They have come such a long way,” Tveter said.
Once the children felt comfortable with her, Jennifer focused on bonding with them. She spent quality time with them, trying to make them feel as carefree as a child has to be.
She knew that domestic violence leaves a scar on victims and witnesses alike, and that she’d have to work hard. But she never gave up on the children.
Besides what they had been through before entering the foster care system, the three children also had to cope with the effects separation from one another had had on them. During their more than four years in foster care, they had often been taken in each by a different family, which made trauma even deeper for them.
But Jennifer knew that if she wanted to adopt, she’d have to go for all the siblings at once. And she did.
A while ago, the three siblings were all officially adopted and they couldn’t hide their excitement.
“Now they just get to be children and heal and be happy and loved and they are so loved,” Tveter told WMUR. “It’s not just me. It’s my entire family. They aren’t just happy, they are relieved that no one is going to hurt them again.”
The family celebrated the adoption with balloons, banners, and confetti, while the neighbors participated in their celebration with a car parade.
The children couldn’t be more relieved that their adventures had come to an end and that, from then on, they’d just focus on being children and living their best life.
In a video from ABC News, Jonathan even sends a message to send to foster kids:
“Even if it takes a long time,” he says, “you’ll still find the perfect family for you, too!”
We can only hope that every child out there will soon find a forever, loving home.
Watch Tveter and the kids talk about their story in the video below!
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