Delories finds it hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since her close friend died. The pain feels fresh when she recalls that night and getting the news. Even more excruciating is the empathy she felt for her friends’ little boy, “Brandon.” She carried his pain in her heart for five long years, not knowing how much longer those years felt for Brandon. You see, she lost contact with Brandon when he was left in the care of family who could not, and did not, provide him the care and love a little boy needs.

Five years too long…long enough for Brandon to become a ward of the state – that means the State of Illinois was legally Brandon’s parent.

Brandon lost his mother, and then everything he knew. He never got the chance to grieve the loss of his mom, but was forced to immediately face the reality of what he only saw as being left alone in a big world. Not surprisingly, Brandon didn’t immediately warm to his first foster parents…and didn’t get the chance to either before they presumed Brandon just wasn’t a good match. Brandon was moved to his second foster home, then his third. He began acting out, getting into trouble, then moved to his fourth foster home, fifth, sixth…

Brandon became a seriously troubled youth and deemed “specialized” by the state. Back then it was more common for kids to bounce around from one home to the next because the special care and attention kids like Brandon needed wasn’t being provided immediately like it ought to have been. Brandon, like so many other kids, learned to reject the care being offered to them by a foster parent BEFORE getting rejected…it became a defense mechanism.

In that fifth year after Brandon’s mother died, Delories heard from a friend of a friend that “the poor little boy who’d lost his family” had recently been sent to Kaleidoscope. Because he was deemed specialized and needed special attention to help him recover from his trauma, Kaleidoscope took him in to provide him the most stable care possible in a family that would be trained and supported to care for just such children.

Delories contacted Kaleidoscope and, without hesitation, became a licensed foster parent for Brandon by the time he was twelve years old.

And that’s where the best part of Delories’ story begins.

Since that day that Delories took Brandon into her home, she has become the foster parent to over 20 children. If that doesn’t illustrate the size of her heart, she took in two foster children, a four-month-old and then a three-year-old, who weren’t expected to live to see their next birthday. But because of her unconditional care, both are doing remarkably well. Without Delories, these two would have certainly grown up in an institution, if they would have even survived at all. Both now in their twenties, Anthony and Jeanetta remain in Delories’ care as adults with special needs, but are clearly happy as evidenced by their smiles and affection towards Delories and the Kaleidoscope staff.

Most recently, a tiny infant named Demajh was referred to Kaleidoscope who was the child of teenage foster youth herself. The Kaleidoscope staff approached Delories about taking the infant into her home while we all worked closely with the teenage parent with the goal of reunification. Sadly, but believed to be in the child’s best interest, Demajh’s mother chose to terminate her rights as his parent. Demajh would have been placed in another foster home at this point, however Delories asked to adopt Demajh and the Kaleidoscope staff began the adoption process, given her stellar record as a foster parent and knowing the Demajh would be given all the love he needed and a good life.

To be sure, Delories is an exceptional foster parent. Her story inspires others who have the capacity – to both provide and to love – to become foster parents and to adopt foster children. Delories has dedicated the last 35 years of her life fostering children in her own home, creating a large extended family where all know her as “mama.” As a founder of Kaleidoscope’s Foster Parent Association, former President and mother, Delories is an inspiration to us all.

Brandon is grown up now, but in spite of living in Florida and leading a successful career, he still finds time to call and check up on his mama.