Editor’s Note: The following is the eighth installment in a
series of articles connecting our readers to the area’s most needy
residents during the holiday season. The Morgan Hill Times will
present the stories Nov. 28 through Dec. 22.
Morgan Hill – The holiday season brings some good news for Reyna Lupercio, 21, as she has just learned she has a job at Safeway grocery store, a development that brings her one step closer to regaining custody of her four children.
And that is her main goal in life, she says.
Reyna’s children, two sons ages 3 and 4 and two daughters ages 1 and 2, were placed with Child Protective Services in April when she was using methamphetamine. Now, she is putting her life back together, picking up the pieces and trying to move into an apartment so she will have a home for the children. She has until Jan. 16 to find permanent housing for her and the children or she won’t be reunited with them for another six months.
She’s complying with several court-ordered programs to get her family back. She’s successfully completed three out of five programs that deal with parenting, domestic violence and drug abuse.
Reyna got pregnant when she was 15 years old. Her mother counseled her to live with the father of her baby. “I didn’t love him at the time, but I started loving him later,” she said, matter-of-factly.
Soon after she became pregnant again with her second child, but he began physically abusing her. He left her and was arrested in San Diego. When he came out of jail, she became pregnant again with promises that her abusive partner would change and a marriage proposal that never materialized.
In 2003 he was murdered while she was pregnant with her third child. In February of 2004 she met someone who told her he couldn’t have children and she got pregnant with her fourth child. She left him because he physically hurt her oldest son, who was 2 years old at the time. He’s now in jail.
Reyna is originally from Tulare County. Her mother is from Texas and her father is from Mexico, but she comes from a highly dysfunctional family. She is one of nine children from four different fathers.
Right now, she is living in transitional housing, but she hopes with her new job that she will move out soon.
Her needs, she said, are mainly things for her children, toys and clothing. But she would also like items for her future apartment.
“I’m just glad that I stopped when I did,” she said, referring to her struggles with meth. “I’m glad I was able to get help, to go to NA (Narcotics Anonymous). It’s been really hard, but I know I’m going to get my kids back.”
Lupercio said she really wants to let teenagers know that starting to use drugs is the way to slide down a slippery slope that’s hard to climb back up.
“It’s not worth it, it’s really not,” she said. “Look at how hard it has been and what I’ve lost, I’ve had to be without my kids, except when I can visit them. Someone tells me when I can see my children. Is any drug worth having to go through that?”
Many people start using meth, she said, to try to forget about their problems or make their problems go away, but she said she wants to let everyone know that the problems just get worse and get bigger.
“I was addicted to an ugly disease, but I asked for help, and I’m getting it,” she said. “And I’m going to have my kids back as soon as I can.”
And when she does, she’ll need a little more help. Basics like sheets, towels and blankets for the apartment would be welcome, as well as items for the children.
Anyone interested in helping Reyna and her family is asked to contact Community Solutions at 779-2113.
HOW TO DONATE
To help Lupercio, contact Community Solutions at (408) 779-2113. Lupercio has until Jan. 16 to find a permanent place to live to regain custody of her four children.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at
md****@mo*************.com
.
