In the fall of 2006 we had a young woman come to Compassion House per a court order. She was 17 years old, finishing her senior year in High School, and had decided that she wasn’t ready to raise her unborn son. During her time with us, she was able to receive weekly counseling, which helped her through the difficult decision to make an adoption plan. She chose to have an open adoption (pictures and letters are openly exchanged from birth-mother to adoptive parents throughout the baby’s life). Her adoptive parents began going to her doctor’s appointments with her and were able to share in the miracle of their son’s birth. Weeks after the birth, the adoptive parents and our resident met for a “play-date.” It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between mother, parents, and son.

Compassion House was honored to be a part of this special miracle.

I was scared and cocontinue school. I graduated from high school and plan to attend college at the University of Arkansas.

I was working from 7am-5pm every day to save money for the baby, but I didn't have a driver's license, high school diploma, or a home to call my own.
Compassion House enabled me to get a driver's license, finish my education, get all the things I needed for my baby, and find a place to live after my baby came.
I feel like I'll be able to be a mom and be able to cope even if I have to do it as a single woman.

It seemed like everything always went wrong in my life. I lost my three year old little girl because I couldn't and wouldn't stop drinking.
After coming to Compassion House, I realized that God has a future and a hope for me and my baby. Compassion House helped me to change my life. For the first time in my life I realized I was worth fighting for even if I was the only one fighting. I was able to recognize my limitations and chose to make an adoption plan for my daughter. She is now with a loving family.

I was headed toward destruction. My world came crashing down when I
became pregnant at age sixteen. My family told me that abortion was my only option if I wanted to continue living with them, attending high school, and going on with my life. I refused to have an abortion, so my mom put me out of the house and arranged for me to go to Compassion House.
I felt very loved by the staff at Compassion House. Living there taught me how to be independent and how to make good decisions.
Since I have been at Compassion House my life has made a dramatic change and I am closer to God than I have ever been before. Without the help of Compassion House, I do not know what would have happened to me and to my child.

Until I was five years old I lived with my grandma who was mean spirited and often physically abused me. One day my grandma just dropped me off at my moms and left. My mom did drugs and her boyfriends abused me. I skipped school continuously, did drugs, and hung around people of really bad influence.
When I was fifteen years old, I assaulted my high school vice-principal. I was convicted of assault and battery. When I was let out on probation, I spent the next eight months in and out of jail, doing drugs and skipping school. I just did what I felt like doing on any given day, not really caring what anybody thought or who it would hurt, even myself.
Then I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked, scared, and worried. I wasn't sure where I would live or who would help me care for my child. I had developed serious anger problems, and hated being in jail. I felt powerless and alone. Then, I was court ordered to live at Compassion House.
I was really angry that I had to go to a place which I was sure would be worse than jail, where religion would be shoved down my throat, and where I would be ordered around all the time. But I was in for a surprise…..

Compassion House has been good for me. The staff have been really helpful and have truly been my spiritual uplifters. After being there for almost three months, I gave my life to Christ. I now know that I need help to change, because if I continue in my old ways, I will lose my child and go to juvenile state prison.
Compassion House has provided me with parenting skills and basic living skills which I will need to succeed in the future. I have a labor coach who takes me to all my doctor's appointments and labor classes and has been a wonderful help and support to me.
My mom, my boyfriend, and myself are all benefiting from the counseling we receive at Compassion House.
I plan, with God's help, to set an example for my child to follow so that she will not make the same mistakes that I have made and will not have to experience the pain that I have had to endure.