Deborah Stiggers was only 39 years old when she passed this life, but she left enough of an impression on her young children for them to remember the
legacy she left behind. In their South Bronx, New York community, the Stiggers’
home was known as the “safe” house.
It was there that the local teens would flock for hot meals, compassion,
nonjudgmental advice, and at times a spot on the family’s living room floor to
lay their heads for the night. They knew that they would get honest feedback
and direction about whatever trouble was plaguing their young lives from
Deborah. It was an environment that fostered honesty and trust. While the
Stiggers did not have much, they withheld no resources from anyone who found
themselves on their door stoop. No one was turned away nor did anyone ever leave
feeling like their needs were not met. Deborah’s kindness was not just limited
to the teens but at times was extended to their parents or other adults in the
neighborhood who needed a helping hand. Even though she only had three
biological children, Deborah had many unofficial adopted children. The memories
of the love and nurturing her children saw their mother exhibit to the people
in their community would stay with them long after she was gone. So it was by no
accident that young Lakisha Stiggers would grow up to model those same
characteristics as her mother.
At 25, Lakisha’s passion to help young girls and families break away
from the generational curses which plagued her community through intervention was
awakened and she wasted no time in opening up her own home in Decatur to young
girls who needed mentoring and guidance as their foster parent. That was the beginning of what would later
branch out into state supported group homes. Incorporated in 2004, the first of
six group homes bearing the name Little
Debbie’s Second Chance Home, Inc. (LDSCH), a non-profit organization, was
born out of Lakisha’s desire to carry on her mother’s legacy. Located
exclusively in DeKalb County, LDSCH is a residential/live-in facility which
provides various social services to disadvantaged adolescents and teens (boys
and girls), i.e., runaways, high school drop outs, pregnant teens and teen
mothers, substance abusers, etc., in an attempt to rehabilitate, reduce or
eliminate occurrences. Each group home is strategically nestled inconspicuously
in selected neighborhoods in an attempt to protect the client’s identity. LDCSH
is “committed to improving the academic
achievement, self-esteem, social competence, and avoidance of problem/high-risk
behavior of the teens and adolescents in our care by providing relationships with
a caring, exceptionally trained adult who help will help them reach their
potential.” Each facility houses up to six residents and is staffed 24
hours a day by 4 rotating staff members referred to as “house parents”. Residents are evaluated on intake to assess their
immediate needs and are then matched up with an in-house Community Service
Individual (CSI), a psychotherapist and if deemed necessary they are also
assigned a psychiatrist who facilitates medication. There is also an in-house nurse who monitors
the residents to ensure the timely dispensation of medication doses.
Overall, the programs offered by LDSCH are geared towards the whole
individual and is spearheaded by a staff that not only relates to them but is diligent
in their dealings with issues that are not necessarily prevalent in a typical
settings. By providing activities that the residents would normally engage in
if they were actually living at home with their parents, i.e., extracurricular
activities; going to church; chore responsibilities (preparing meals,
housekeeping); shopping excursions; coupled with tutoring and conflict
resolutions, the program provides some sort of normalcy which allows the teen
to thrive in a stable environment which fosters responsibility and
accountability. However the core purpose
of the program is to offer help for the issue(s) that brought them to LDSCH,
including underlying causes, i.e., alcohol and drug abuse treatment,
psychotherapy, etc. The residents also
learn fundamental key components necessary for them to transition into
independent living as well as develop good coping skills that will propel them pass
those issues.
By implementing these programs in a safe secure environment, LDSCH allows
adolescents/teens to experience their dreams of growing up to be normal
productive individuals in the community to the point that they want to give
back. Like:
“Joy”
a 20-year old junior at Atlanta Technical College who was a resident of LDSCH for
five years. She was about 14 when she entered the program and was addicted to
marijuana. She was also a runner/runaway. She recalls her first time at the
group home. “I hated the experience. [There
were] too many rules. I was not allowed
to smoke, but I defied the rules anyway.” She shared that she used to get
into trouble in school all the time and it showed in her grades. Despite her defiance, the staff and the
director would constantly take her to task for her behavior and she resented
them, but that was then. After lots of intervention and her finally realizing
that “these people really cared about me”,
she decided to give the program the benefit of the doubt. Today she works full
time as a pre-school teacher and hopes to own her own daycare one day. In
between her busy schedule, she makes time to give back as a mentor at LDSCH. She uses her experience as a past resident as
a guide to help encourage and counsel the current residents. She says, “I can see myself in them and I am able to
share with them the importance of sticking with the program.” Looking back she can see how she was a handful
and how she tested the patience and reigns of the staff, including the
director, time and time again. Through
it all she is grateful that they never gave up on her. She recalls the staff
made a significant impact on her and it was a good feeling realizing that they
were working on her behalf. She attributes her academic and personal success to
the structure of the program but mostly the concern the director showed her.
Prior to entering the home she had “trust”
issues. It seemed like all her life “people were always letting [her] down.”
However, as time went by she began trusting the director more because of her
constant intervention. The director was always in her face forcing her to face
her actions and the repercussions that followed. She also recalls that there were
structures in place to help facilitate bonding between the residents which lasted
way after she left the program. “We are
like sisters and we stick up for each other.”
And then there is:
“Mary Ann” also 20, who is a current resident of LDSCH for the past two
years, but has been in and out of the social services system since she was 9
years old. Faced with a lot of challenges, her mother voluntarily gave Mary Ann
up because she did not feel she could take care of her. At first Mary Ann
admits that she did not understand why her mother would give her up but as she
got older she realized that her mom was addicted to the same drugs Mary Ann
found herself addicted to. Through the love and support she has received,
including in-house rehab, Mary Ann has been able to kick her drug
addiction. She too indicates that she was
a bit “defiant” when she first
entered the program at LDSCH. She said,
“I didn’t want to be there.” However,
the staff helped her become acclimated to her new surroundings including
registering her for her new school. Over the two years that she has spent at
LDSCH she has developed some lasting relationships with the staff. From the
house mother to the psycho therapist, Mary Ann shared how they were all
instrumental in her recovery. She
recalls that the staff would constantly check on her, even on their off days.
She fondly remembers a deceased staff member, Mama D, who would always share
positive uplifting words to help keep her motivated, especially those days when
she was feeling like a relapse was on the horizon. She stated, “She was a wonderful mentor who was like a
mother to me and the other girls in her care.” Mary Ann is a high school
graduate and will be emancipated from the program in June. She has already been
pre-accepted at 4 local colleges including UGA. She is not sure where she will
end up but one thing she is sure of is that LDSCH gave her the push she needed
to stay in the right direction. Sadly Mary Ann’s mom died in 2008, but Mary Ann
is grateful to the visiting resource manager, Ms. Hayes, who helped fill the hole
where her mom should have been.
It could very well take a while for me to relay all the great things
that both Joy and Mary Ann had to say about the program. So in the interest of
time, I will sum it all up in one word – inspiring. But it would be remised if
I did not echo the sediment they both expressed. Their experience at LDSCH was
a major factor in the outcome of not just their lives but, also in the lives of
every teen or adolescent that passes through that agency. While they have all
made mistakes in the past, they are able to learn from them. Mostly because the
staff facilitates the change they need by encouraging their spiritual growth and
forward thinking. They instill in them values, ambition, and determination to
succeed. LDSCH is committed to the success of all the residents in their care.
As mentioned before, LDSCH group homes are located inconspicuously and
strategically in various DeKalb Country neighborhoods. As a rule of thumb there
is no signage to identify the home as anything but a residential home, no
excessive activities to draw attention to the residents in the home, nor any
signage or group home insignia on vehicles assigned to transport residents to
and from their daily activities. Thus
there is no way to tell that a LDSCH group home is a group home based on visibility.
Again, the goal here is to have the residents co-exist in local neighborhoods
to facilitate and foster normal living conditions without the stigma that
sometimes may be associated with group home facilities as well as a safety
precaution as it is sometimes necessary to conceal the identity of the
residents in their care. For the most part LDCSH has been very successful to
that end. Unfortunately there are times that the agency may inherit a facility
which has already been stigmatized or compromised and it becomes necessary to
relocate the home to another neighborhood in an attempt to distance the residents
from that stigmatism and give them a fresh new start. Recently it became necessary to seek
relocation of one of the group homes for that very reason. Unfortunately the
process was compromised by not only the targeted new neighborhood’s residents
and the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, but also selected city council members
who launched a campaign to block the relocation efforts. In fact LDSCH was
forced to abandon the venture to relocate the home because the location was further
compromised when plans to acquire the new location was leaked to the public in
an a series of articles printed in the DeKalb County’s CrossRoadNews (“Teens group home proposed for Wesley
Chapel” Jennifer Ffrench Parker, 3/16/13 pg A3; “BOC denies permit for teen group home” Jessica Smith 3/30/13
pg 5) Even if the permit was not
denied, there was no way that the agency could proceed with plans to relocate
to the new address as the safety of the residents was compromised. As a
condition of the existence of the group homes, residents are guaranteed their
privacy and assured of their safety as it may sometimes really be a life or death situation. As such, LDSCH is
committed to operating their group homes in undisclosed locations.
Despite aforementioned challenges, LDSCH continues to make a difference
in the lives of the residents in their care. As a result of the efforts of the
staff at LDSCH under the leadership of Lakisha S. Stiggers, the residents in
the program has achieved one or more of the following since their enrollment:
remained actively enrolled in school, improved their academic standing; made
honor roll (principal/dean's list), graduated from high school with their
diploma or completed the GED program successfully, enrolled in continuing
education classes at local university or college, obtained their driver's
license, remained successfully drug free, gained meaningful parenting skills,
ability to retain custody of their minor child while pursuing their education, gained
family planning education, gained problem-solving/conflict resolution skills,
matriculated through the program and obtained their own apartment, experienced
family reunification, and/or gained meaningful employment in the field of their
choice.
As a beacon of hope, a photo of Deborah Stiggers graces the wall of
every LDSCH facility as a constant reminder of the woman who was responsible
for provoking a dream in her daughter – that no teen or adolescents who enter
those doors will ever go without love, compassion, or understanding. The essence of who Deborah Stiggers was lives
on in the life changing work of the tireless efforts of the staff of LDSCH.)i(
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Maybe it’s just me but
I get real irritated when people I don’t know addresses me by my first name,
like we are old friends or something. Just today I was watching Judge Judy when
my cellphone rang. True to form I answered because I always answer my phone
when I’m able, because I never know who may be calling. The lady on the other
end asked if this was me using my Christian first name. I quickly said, “This is Ms. Million. How may I help you?”,
in an attempt to correct her error. However, she showed no sign that she caught
what I was trying to show her as she proceeded to use my first name again and
again throughout the conversation. By now I’m already irritated because first
off she is interrupting my TV session, and secondly she showed disrespect to me
by calling me by my first name as I don’t know her. Needless-to-say I cut the conversation short
and returned to my show.
