It takes a kind of courage most people never have to summon

My name is Dave Shuster and I’m the Mentor Parent Manager here at DAC. When my daughter was taken from me, my whole life fell apart. My wife was in jail. I was struggling with addiction. I was homeless. My own family did not want me around.

Then I walked into court and heard people talk about me like I was worthless. I was told I had only a short window to “fix myself” or my daughter would go to foster care. Every voice around me made it clear that I was a lost cause.

People said I would never get her back.

I believed them.

The day CPS stepped in, I thought, "This is it. I will never see my daughter again." I had no hope left. I had been treated like a throwaway human for so long that I started to believe it.

This is why I say that when any parent with an open case walks into a courthouse for the first time, it is already a victory. They have pushed through fear, shame, judgment, and the belief that the system is built to destroy them. They still show up.

That takes a kind of courage most people never have to summon.

As a Mentor Parent at DAC, my first goal is simple. I want them to walk out of that first meeting with a small piece of hope. If they cannot hold it yet, I hold it for them until they can.

Because I remember what changed everything for me.

When I came to DAC as a client, I met my attorneys, Preeti and AnnaLisa. I met my Mentor Parent, Leo. He sat with me right by the door and said, “I got my kid back. If I can do it, you can do it.”

No one judged me. No one talked over me. For the first time in years, someone asked to hear my story. They believed me before I even believed in myself.

That is what gave me the strength to fight for my daughter.

There is a big misconception that child welfare is about "saving" children from their parents. But if the system had succeeded in separating my daughter from me forever, what they would have taken her from is a father who turned his life around, someone who is now part of his community, someone who shows up for others with no expectation of anything in return.

Today, I am the Mentor Parent Manager at DAC. I train other Mentor Parents to keep this cycle of hope alive. I get to stand with parents the way Leo once stood with me.

Parents in crisis deserve support, not judgment. They deserve someone who listens, not someone who condemns them. They deserve a chance to heal and to reunify with their children whenever it is safe to do so.

By making a gift to DAC, you help us listen.

You help DAC provide Mentor Parents, social work support, and legal advocacy that can change the course of a family’s life.

You help us stand with them and listen to them when they’re at their lowest.

Please consider making a gift today so more parents can have what I had: someone who believes in them when they have stopped believing in themselves.

Thank you for reading my story.

Dave Shuster, Mentor Parent Manager

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