A Kinship Care Success Story

“Keeping our family together and caring for Jaicion has meant everything to me.” After raising two biological children, adopting two foster children, and pitching in to help parent two nieces and a nephew after her sister succumbed to breast cancer, single mother Cindy Cash had been caring for children for nearly half a century. In 2019, Cindy’s grandson Jaicion was born with Trisomy 21, a form of Down syndrome, along with a host of related medical issues. Cindy’s son, Aaron (the baby’s father), and the birth mother were no longer together, and during the pandemic, all communication from Jaicion’s mom ceased. By the time he was seen by a pediatrician for a lingering lung infection, the medically vulnerable toddler was so sick that he went into respiratory arrest in the exam room. Over 52 days of recovery, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) assumed temporary guardianship and began the search for a foster home. “It was a lot to take on, especially at my age. But Hephzibah made sure we had everything we needed to care for Jaicion, from medical equipment and supplies to a visiting nurse.” As soon as DCFS cleared Cindy as a kinship caregiver, she made a request to transfer Jaicion’s case to Hephzibah. Since those early days, Jaicion has gained so much weight that Cindy can’t pick him up anymore—and she can’t remember the last time he was sick. Cindy, Aaron, and Jaicion became a forever family through adoption in May 2025.