In celebration of ATN’s 2016 Angels in Adoption award, we’re profiling ATN members who have helped ATN win the award — and who have themselves been Angels to families and children.
by: Maureen O’Neill Davis
ATN’s advocacy director, Toni Hoy, made a lasting and inspiring impression on me. I found ATN when my efforts to access early, intensive trauma and attachment treatment for my unsafe kinship adopted 7 year old daughter. My efforts to get her what she needed were met with judgment and devastating consequences. Instead of support, CPS in our state came after us for abuse/neglect. My husband and I were beaten down by anguish & fear over 3-years. Our thriving children were placed at risk by CPS actions, and our troubled daughter was denied treatment, re-traumatized by 2-years in foster care & told we didn’t want or love her. We nearly lost everything. Its was beyond belief. But it was Toni’s advocacy efforts that inspired me to overcome the harm through action and follow her lead. I survived our unfathomable journey by becoming an strong, committed and active advocate for CPS, post-adoption support and child mental health care policy change in Connecticut. My civic leadership engagement is expansive and is rooted in the path Toni Hoy forged before me. She is a true ATN trail blazer, whom I’m proud to call my mentor.
Toni Hoy is a powerful advocate for traumatized children and the families who love them. Her public policy reform efforts in Illinois are leading the way for reform in other states. She is a mighty powerhouse for ATN. I am proud to call her my mentor.
Can you think of someone who has been an ATN Angel? Join the celebration by sending us your nomination here: https://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/atnangel/.
