How is it that some individuals seem to have an innate and overwhelming sense of doing good for others? Obviously I do not know the answer to that question, but whatever it is, Troy and Shannon Pinkerton have it.
As is my usual modus operandi on Sunday I write about someone who deserves our respect, praise, and admiration for what they do or have accomplished. If there was a grading scale for these Sunday individuals, on a 1-10 scale, where do you think Troy and Shannon Pinkerton might grade out? Read the following and then decide.
From Epoch Bright:
Originally from San Diego both she and her husband now call their 40-acre (16-hectare) ranch in Wyoming home, where together they have fostered 30 kids, before finally adopting Joey in 2000.
Presently their sizable brood consists of four biological kids, plus six that were adopted—all of the latter being special-needs children, five of whom have Down syndrome.
Ms. Pinkerton said she was raised by parents who ran a group home and was always surrounded by special needs individuals. Chaos, turmoil, and noise don’t get to her at all; that’s all she’s ever known.
Caring for kids, ages ranging from 18 to 27, one could say the parents, Troy and Shannon Pinkerton, have their hands full.
“During school time, it kind of gets rowdy because the boys wrestle and they wrestle in the house,” Ms. Pinkerton, 51, told The Epoch Times.
Or else Cameron, 23, who is clinically blind, might “get ticked off because he thinks he owns the TV.”
Kids with disabilities, like Devlin, 18, who have been through staff-run facilities, received little in the way of consistency. With often contradictory rules, depending who was on shift, there was bound to be rebellion.
“So when I first get my kids, they are naughty,” Ms. Pinkerton said. “A few of them came from great homes, but a couple of them, they come from a facility.”
Many kids with Down syndrome in the foster system get bounced around, she adds. Often, the foster parents have never dealt with a child with special needs—as was the case with Cameron.
Cameron had behavioral issues when he first arrived at the Pinkertons’ home. Repeated outbursts led to several hundred dollars in household damages, and at one point he yelled, “You’re gonna make me leave, aren’t you?”
To which Ms. Pinkerton replied, “Oh, no, buddy, you’re grounded. You’re gonna finish out your grounding, and then you can let me know what you want to do when you’re ready.”
But Cameron doesn’t do that anymore, she told us. He has since “mellowed out.”
So what grade do you think? … 10/10 for me!
7/30/23