A New Life for Nora - Jackson-Feild Homes

At five, Nora and her family moved to Northern Virginia from Guatemala. She never met her father. Her mother, an alcoholic, struggled to care for six children. Nora became the victim of her mother’s physical and emotional abuse.

At fourteen, Nora was placed into foster care. She hated it. With serious anger problems, she ran away and again found herself before the judge who determined that she was too dangerous to return to foster care. She was locked up by the Department of Juvenile Justice and eventually placed at Jackson-Feild Homes.

At JFH, Nora found people who believed in her in a place where she was valued and accepted. While others had shunned her, told her that she was a criminal, and was sad she would never graduate from school or amount to anything, the JFH staff inspired Nora to change and to develop goals and dreams. Nora was told that if she really put her mind to it, she could receive her GED. Nora was very motivated to reach this milestone, and within six months she had accomplished it.

Nora currently attends community college and aspires to become a juvenile probation officer so that she can help other girls turn their lives around and become successful. Nora knows what it is like to stand before the judge and be told “You are too dangerous” and be sent away to a locked facility.

When Nora thinks of Jackson-Feild Homes, she thinks of how it changed her life and how it inspired and motivated her to become a probation officer to help others like she was helped.

Want to help girls like Nora? Designate your gift to Jackson-Field, CVC #3660.

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