(En inglés)
Head Start Heals: Recovering Confidence
Cami Miller: I live in eastern Oregon in a town called La Grande. It's in a valley, and there's lots of mint fields and wheat fields and cows, and – [Laughs] ... It's a very beautiful place to live, but it doesn't always have the resources people need, you know, to get back on their feet or overcome.
I'm an addict. When I had my son, he came into this world, and I just was not really ready to be a mom yet. Just trying to figure out how to get clean, and I got sent to prison. And so, he lived with his grandparents pretty much until I got out of prison. I never paid bills before, really. I'd never – I'd worked, but not anywhere for a long period of time, and I'd definitely never been a parent. My boyfriend at the time, he had a daughter who was 4 years old, and she was going to Head Start. And it was her special day, and they asked me to go, and, you know – and I was, like, “Well, sure, I guess.” I remember being pretty anxious about the whole ordeal because it's a small town. I just figured everyone would know me and know my history. And, you know, I was just met with kindness and love and, like, no judgment.
And so, my son Tyler, when he was 3, I was like, “He's gotta go here. Like, there's no other option. We need this.” They did home visits, and we played games, and I learned how to get a kid to brush their teeth, how to get a kid to try new food – those fundamental parenting skills.
It's hard to put into words, like, all the little things that have impacted my recovery. But the connections I made with teachers and staff – it helped my confidence as a parent, and it gave me skills that I just don't think I would have gotten anywhere else.
[Music]
Cami luchó con el consumo de sustancias y fue condenada a prisión poco después de que naciera su hijo. Tras salir de la cárcel, encontró comunidad y apoyo en Head Start, lo cual le dio las habilidades que necesitaba para ser madre por primera vez (video en inglés).
