A local woman is making sure no child in Michigan is forgotten. Her organization is changing the lives, and futures of children across the state.
Elizabeth Brazilian says this is her third, final and best chapter in life. She’s living to help others, who are in the same tough spot she was once in.
“This is near and dear to my life because I’m an adopted child,” Brazilian said.
There are 13,000 children in the Michigan Foster System.
“We care about these children, every single one of them,” she said.
And Brazilian is on a mission to make sure kids like Dakota don’t get left behind.
“We go far beyond everything the state provides so that our children in our foster cares homes feel like they are just like every other kid in their school,” she said.
That’s why she created Child Safe Michigan, a nonprofit organization aiding in foster care, adoption and mentoring.
“The state provides a certain amount of funds a year for the child’s clothing and shoes I think it’s still somewhere around $300 a year,” she said, “I’ve been upset about that for a while and then if they wear glasses and they break their glasses, we have to get them the next pair of glasses.”
She’s bridging the gap so many children fall through. Dakota Sokol was fortunate enough to be adopted by loving parents but the years of trauma she endured take many years and people to heal. She says her mentor Scottie does just that.
“She has a similar past to me,” she said.
And for Dakota’s adoptive parents, Child Safe has proved to be a vital lifeline.
“Those were the programs that helped us through it and got us through it and I don’t know where we would have been without it because I wouldn’t have known where to go,” mom Mary Sokol said.
And that’s Brazilian’s mission, through a variety of resources and volunteers Child Safe Michigan is where the pain ends and healing begins.
“I’m real grateful for it,” Dakota said.
Child Safe Michigan is always looking for potential foster and adoptive families as well as mentors. If you’d like help you can email generalquestions@childsafemichigan.org or call (248) 353-0921.
