Jennifer had been silent since her arrival at the group home. Severely neglected, nearly starved, she had been locked in the closet of her parents abandoned mobile home to die. She had been found huddled deep in the corner of that same closet when inspectors came to condemn the house. Scars cover her body where she had been bitten, burned and kicked. Her right arm had been broken sometime is the past month and had begun to heal a little crooked. That would need surgery in the near future. What worried CPS workers more was Jennifer’s refusal to speak and her fear of having anyone approach her, especially men. ER doctors had to sedate her just to examine her. Once at the group home, they had decided to put her in a room alone, so she wouldn’t be disturbed. She spent her days just sitting by the widow, enjoying the light, she had so long been deprived of. Things continued this way for two months.


On the day that everything started to change, Wendy had made an appointment with Pat, the social worker assigned to Jennifer’s case. After introductions and a few minutes of general conversation Pat asked Wendy what kind of children she would be willing care for. “I want to help children that have been abused or neglected” was Wendy’s reply. Something in Pat’s heart told her this could be just the person for Jennifer, but she wasn’t about to rush into things. She told Wendy that she may have just the child for her, but she couldn’t take Jennifer home until she won her trust. Pat took Wendy down the hall to Jennifer’s room. When Jennifer heard the door opening, she huddled closer to the window. Wendy entered the room and quietly set herself down on the floor for the next three hours. Wendy repeated this for the next three months, sitting on the floor of Jennifer’s room for hours on end everyday.
One afternoon, Wendy seated herself on the floor and looked up to find the window empty. It was then Wendy noticed a small form beside her, it was Jennifer. Afraid of scaring Jennifer back to the window, Wendy sat motionless, until a worker came in the room and scared Jennifer back to the window. Over time, Jennifer began to trust Wendy enough she would get into her lap when Wendy came to visit, but she still remained silent. A week before Christmas Wendy went for her daily visit to Jennifer, this time with a package under her arm. When she entered Jennifer came and crawled into her lap. Wendy hugged her close, enjoying the feeling of the little girl in her arms. She reached beside her to retrieve the colorful box, and put it into Jennifer’s hands, telling her it was for her. Jennifer gingerly removed the wrapping to reveal the beautiful doll, in her box. Wendy helped her remove the doll from her box. Jennifer quickly wrapped both arms around the doll. Wendy asked her what she intended to call her and to her surprise Jennifer answered. Just one word, but enough to bring Wendy and Pat, who happened by and was standing in the doorway to tears. The one word? Wendy.
A few weeks later, Wendy brought Jennifer home, to stay. She adopted her six months later.