Feb 20, 2012 - 1:42 pm
Gabbie Hensley, 14, is eager for Eric and Chelsey Burr to officially become her adopted parents. (JEFF BEIERMANN/THE WORLD-HERALD)
From the Omaha World-Herald:
Ex-safe haven kid has a home at last
Gabbie Hensley looked right at home.
It was a Friday evening in February in suburban Omaha. Gabbie, a 6-foot athlete who is obsessed with texting and loves honors English, was still wearing a blue-and-yellow Omaha North High jersey and shorts after freshman basketball practice.
She perched in the corner of a sofa, next to her new mom. Gabbie’s left leg extended off the cushions so an aching ankle, wrapped and iced, could rest on the floor. She pushed back her blond hair and started telling her story.
“I was born on Sept. 22, 1997,” she said. “My mom was 19 at the time. She couldn’t take care of me then, and she gave me to my grandma. It was only going to be for a few short months.”
It was, in fact, the beginning of 14 years of permanently temporary living for Gabbie, much of her childhood spent in homes where she didn’t really belong and, toward the end, with a few exceptions, wasn’t really wanted — at least, as far as she could tell.
Gabbie’s grandmother gave her back to her mother when Gabbie was 7. Gabbie’s mother abandoned the girl at age 11. She left Gabbie at Bergan Mercy Medical Center in Omaha, making her No. 29 of the 36 children dropped off by parents under Nebraska’s short-lived safe haven law of 2008 …
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very familiar with since working at Boys Town. The job can be incredibly tough, but success stories like this make it...
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