Success Stories

Client – Carlita Gill

Program – Adolescent Family Support Program
Location – Oakland

As seventeen year old Carlita Gill prepared to graduate from high school, her college plans were to eventually attend UC Davis and then become a labor and delivery nurse. This seems like a normal track for someone graduating high school. But Carlita’s high school experience has been far from normal; she has been raising her three young children during her high school years. With the help of family, friends and Brighter Beginnings, Carlita has been able to raise three beautiful babies, continue her education and set lifelong goals for herself.

When Carlita was 13, she had Jocelynn, her first child. A nurse at Summit Hospital asked if she would like to meet with someone from Brighter Beginnings and she said yes.  Monica Medellin, her Family Advocate at Brighter Beginnings, helped her find the resources she needed to be a good mother and raise a baby while nurturing the strength within herself to stay in school. Carlita attended Emery Academy’s California School Age Families Education (Cal-SAFE) program which also provided childcare.

Two years after giving birth to Jocelyn, despite using birth control, Carlita had twin girls, Natalie and Emily. Having twins, even in the best of circumstances is challenging for any parent. How does a fifteen year old girl raise a toddler, infant twins, and even consider staying in school? With the help of Brighter Beginnings she was able to get assistance with legal issues, apply for Medi-Cal for the babies, and join a support group. Brighter Beginnings helped Carlita with stress management, such as learning what to do when three babies are crying at once. They assisted her with learning how to discipline appropriately, potty training, and understanding child development, such as how to identify what skills are appropriate for certain ages. They kept her focused on goal setting, helping her to fill out job and college applications and decide what classes to take.

What’s one of the best things that happened for her at Brighter Beginnings? Carlita’s answer reveals her strength and her temperamental inclination to help others. “The opportunity I have right now to help other girls in our support group and they help me too. Sometimes I feel like I have the most experience. I’m the one with the oldest child. When they say it’s so hard having a child, I say ‘I have three babies and go to school every day; you can do it.’ I get a lot of pleasure out of helping other girls, helping them with ideas about how to play with their babies and read to them.  I see that they have trouble because their babies are still too small to talk, so I’m helping them to understand what to do when their babies can’t talk, how to hold them.  They also help me hold and feed my kids.” 

Monica Medellin, now Team Leader/Supervisor for Brighter Beginnings, comments, “Carlita has been a very responsible teen in regards to school.  She highly values a good education and has never dropped out in spite of being pregnant or a teen parent. Carlita and her boyfriend have never asked for welfare, despite their financial hardships. Carlita has learned to have patience – the hard way. Brighter Beginnings was able to provide Carlita with formula and diapers during hard times. This is why the donor program is so important to young mothers who have no where else to turn.”

Carlita took nursing classes at Merritt College while in high school and will continue with more classes.  She even fulfilled 20 hours of community service required by her high school, choosing to serve at Brighter Beginnings. Carlita said, “I like babies, and helped my sister in law when she had her baby.  I liked that experience, so decided to make a career out of it.” Carlita’s determination, hard work, and consistent devotion to her young children serve as an inspiration to other teen mothers, giving them hope that they too can rise to meet the many challenges of becoming a mother at a very young age.