“They can overcome!”

That’s the message foster parents Irene Krawczyk and her husband Chester have for other foster families who might be struggling with particularly difficult times in their foster kids’ lives.

Their former foster daughter, Davena Isaac, now 31, came into their lives when she was 15 years old. She was two weeks away from giving birth to a son. She was traumatized by her past, in an abusive relationship and her birth mother had died just two days prior. “I felt like everyone was dead to me when that happened,” Davena says.

In order to have a home, the teenager had no choice but to come into foster care prior to delivering her son. “I didn’t want to go to any family. I was chaos,” says the now mother of three, reflecting on her childhood and teen years.

Davena’s birth mother was from a community in Northern B.C. She never knew her father. Alcoholism, addiction and domestic violence coloured her childhood.  

“I didn’t fit anywhere. I had never known what it meant to experience family in the way other people know that. Looking back, I know the alcohol, the drugs, the lifestyle, was all about filling a void,” she says. “The hardest part for me was being open to a family trying to help me. I just couldn’t accept love.” 

None of her experiences prior to meeting the Krawczyks had prepared her for how their acceptance, their consistency and their loving presence would eventually prove life-changing.

“When I met Irene and Chester, they never pointed fingers. They never hounded me. They were completely helpful with my baby. They loved me from day one,” Davena says.

Irene says they went through Davena’s struggles as a family together because, “That’s what families do.”

But the path to stability wasn’t a straight line. When Davena reached age 17, she moved out to live on her own and the struggles continued.

In 2010, she made the decision to leave the community where she’d been living because her past haunted her at every turn. She wanted to start fresh, to find more opportunities. Her children remained with the Krawczyks where she knew they would be safe.

Once in Vancouver, it didn’t take long for her to hit what she describes as her own “rock bottom”.

“I was in the Downtown Eastside with five cents in my pocket. Friends were dying. I had been trying to move in the right direction: AA, support groups, halfway houses, but I knew it was live or die. And I also realized, these people [the Krawczyks] really believed in me. If they believed in me, then I needed to start believing in myself.”

It was that insight that was the beginning of a change that finally stuck.

Davena’s now been clean for seven years. She has an apartment and she had worked in the spa industry for a decade before returning to school. She’s also immersed herself in Indigenous culture – the Aboriginal friendship centre, drum making, and the Jingle dress dance. This year she danced at the Kamloopa Powwow. She knows staying connected to Indigenous culture is important for her own path and for her three kids.

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if not for them,” she says of Irene and Chester, who have become just mom and dad - and grandpa and grandma to her children - in a relationship that’s been a rock throughout 15 years. “They never gave up on me.”

Committed to securing a better career for her future, Davena is involved in upgrading at Native Education College with plans to go into nursing; her foster parents’ love and dedication the enduring example she keeps close to her heart.

Quick Facts:

• About 2,585 foster family homes in B.C. are currently caring for some of B.C.’s most vulnerable children and youth.
• B.C. needs more individuals and families to care for babies, children, sibling groups and teens.
• The total number of children and youth in foster care is: 4,455 (3,018 Indigenous and 1,437 non-Indigenous).

Learn More:  

Visit: Fosternow.ca

Attend a recruitment information session: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/family-and-social-supports/foster-parenting/foster_family_recruitment_events.pdf

Indigenous Perspectives Society: http://ipsociety.ca/

B.C. Federation of Foster Parent Associations: www.bcfosterparents.ca/

Call B.C.'s fostering line at 1 800 663-9999, or visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/fostering/why-foster-in-bc/how-to-become-a-foster-parent-in-bc