SAN JOSE — Four years ago, Nikita Garcia was living in a tent off Senter Road so close to the railroad tracks — for so long — that she didn’t even notice the trains rumble by anymore.
No matter which way she walked to the bus stop, drug dealers lured her with methamphetamines to dull her miseries. She had already lost custody of her two older children — both were adopted by others — and now she was pregnant with a third.
Santa Clara County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services referred Garcia to a nonprofit organization called Parisi House on the Hill in South San Jose. It’s the same program that once took in Emily De La Cerda, the San Jose mom whose frequent encounters with the child protection agency are at the center of a scandal over the fentanyl-related death of her 3-month-old, Phoenix Castro.
The program offers drug counseling and parenting classes to help drug- and alcohol-addicted mothers become responsible, nurturing parents. The program, the only one of its kind in Santa Clara County, serves about 70 mothers a year. Janus in Santa Cruz and Magnolia Women’s Recovery Programs in Alameda County are similar residential programs.
House on the Hill didn’t work out for De La Cerda, but it did for Garcia.
“I was determined to come here, to change my life and not look back,” Garcia said.
Through a lace curtain, a playground comes into focus at Parisi House on the Hill in San Jose, where the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services often refers young mothers to pull their lives together and keep families together. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Now, after completing the program in 2019 and staying sober since, she has been hired as House on the Hill’s child development coordinator. She inspires other mothers who may feel hopeless that they and their children can thrive.
Garcia’s turnaround is what advocates envision from Santa Clara County’s commitment to keep families together instead of removing children from abusive or neglectful homes.
The county’s child welfare agency is under scrutiny after baby Phoenix, De La Cerda’s youngest of five children, died last spring of a fentanyl overdose while left in her father’s care. A Bay Area News Group investigation found the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services overlooked numerous warnings about the baby’s safety after multiple encounters with De La Cerda and her partner, David Castro.
De La Cerda, who also died of a fentanyl overdose four months after her baby, had two chances to make a turnaround with the help of House on the Hill.
The first time, before she met baby Phoenix’s father, was in 2017 after she crashed into a parked police car while driving drunk. She was six months pregnant and her 1-year-old son, who wasn’t strapped into his car seat, flew forward. She would lose custody of her son to relatives after being convicted of felony child endangerment and serving jail time but was sent to House on the Hill when her daughter was born. Within weeks, however, the baby girl’s father claimed custody and took her to live with him.
In the dining and living rooms at Parisi House on the Hill, troubled mothers are taught the basics of healthy family living, including cooking nutritious meals, and are offered drug counseling and parenting classes in an effort to keep children in the custody of their families. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
The second chance came in February, when Phoenix — her third child with Castro — was born with opioid withdrawal symptoms and the child welfare agency offered her a spot again at the nonprofit center. But with an outstanding bench warrant, De La Cerda was sent to jail instead.
In many ways, House on the Hill is a remarkable exception to how drug-addicted parents are usually treated in the United States. Placing parents and children together in residential drug treatment facilities is much more common in European countries, said UC Berkeley Professor of Social Work Jill Berrick. Oftentimes, those countries initially request that families stay voluntary, but switch that to involuntary if they refuse.
Garcia knew that without a lifeline from House on the Hill, she could lose her son, Alex, who was born with drugs in his system.
On a recent warm fall afternoon, she sat at a picnic table in the nonprofit’s playground and explained how she felt on the summer day in 2019 when she first arrived here. She opened the door to her private bedroom with a bed for her and a crib for the baby and a view of the foothills — and broke into tears.
“It was the most beautiful feeling in the world. I said, ‘I’m safe. I have my son,’” she said. “I don’t have to worry about going back to a tent or having that lifestyle.”
She took every parenting and drug-relapse prevention class. She spent time in the little library reading children’s books to her infant. A shuttle took her to doctor and therapy appointments and she never missed one. She met her mom at church on Sundays “so she could be proud of me and see the baby.”
A children’s clothes closet at Parisi House on the Hill is full of free choices for young mothers learning to take care of their children’s basic needs. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Her son, Alex, is 4 and a half now and thriving. He loves to read. Garcia, 37, owns a car and has a roof over her head.
But she can’t shake the pain of losing her two older children to adoption.
“I could have changed my life around then, but who knows?” she said. “Maybe I had to go through everything I went through in order to say enough is enough – and they’re not going to take one more baby from me.”
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She decided to tell her story, she said, in part because she carries a secret hope that the children she lost, the girl she named Helyn and the boy named Armando, will one day find her.
They would be about 11 and 9 now. She desperately hopes they read this story.
“If my daughter recognizes me and says, ‘Hey, that’s my mom,’ or even her adoptive parents just to see that now I’m doing good,” she said. “Whether they reach out or not, just to know, in their hearts, that I’m doing better. In case they were wondering, you know?”
Nikita Garcia, 37, is grateful that Parisi House on the Hill took her and her infant son into their care in 2019, helped her become sober and learn how to parent Alex, who is now 4 ½ and thriving. She is now inspiring other mothers like herself as the non-profit’s child development coordinator. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group.)
HOW TO GET HELP
Need help with substance abuse or mental illness? Contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 24/7 helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
For parenting resources, contact the California Parent & Youth Helpline at 1-855-427-2736 any day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
