After trying to get pregnant for more than three years, the couple decided to seek help through a fertility specialist. But before doing so, Kriss was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and hypertension. The radiation pill Kriss needed for her treatment meant she would have to put the fertility specialist on hold.

“We started praying that wherever our child was that God put his arms around them and protect them until they could come home,” Kriss said.

Little did the couple know their prayers were waiting to be answered at Cook Children’s.

From the time she was 5 years old, Kriss dreamed of becoming a mom. She was devastated to learn that she was diagnosed with a severe polycystic ovarian syndrome as an early teen. Doctors told her then that she would have difficulty trying to conceive a child.

Kriss married Riley in March 1998. By Christmas 2003, the couple had tried Clomid and injectable fertility drugs but every attempt to have a baby ended with disappointment. Shortly after the holidays and much reflection, the couple decided to adopt.

In May 2004, Kriss and Riley made the decision of their lifetime … at least up to that point.

“During that week a friend of mine approached us and asked us to call a local fostering and adoption agency who handles children from child protective services,” Kriss said. “We thought about it and decided what do we have to lose. These are children who really need homes.”

That was the summer the Stewarts' prayer was answered with a phone call from CPS.

They were told a 5-day-old baby boy had been tossed from a second story apartment window and landed between two air conditioners and a railroad tie on the grass. The agency told Kriss and Riley the baby was fine and being cared for at Cook Children’s.

“When we first arrived at the medical center for our little boy after his fall they treated us so kindly,” Kriss said. “We were immediately seen as mom and dad to this baby. They helped me learn how to care for him since he had a seizure and brain bleed. I was allowed to go back for his CT scans and they allowed me to care for him immediately. When I left Cook Children’s I felt completely comfortable because of the time and teaching that was given. I still remember the neurology doctors sitting with me and going over the care and meds he would need.”

But because of all the legal ramifications involved with the child’s injury, he wouldn’t be legally available for adoption yet. Despite all of this, the couple decided to bring the little boy into their home.

“That in itself was a leap of faith and it was a scary, uncertain time,” Kriss said. “When I got home from work Riley was shouting for me to come to the living room because the story of our little boy was in the news. It was then they showed a picture of his sister.”

Her first reaction was, “It’s a shame we couldn’t have her too.”

Those words proved to be prophetic because the next day when Riley and Kriss showed up to sign paperwork for the boy they found out the state wasn’t going to split the siblings up. The couple was shocked. They took a moment to think about everything that was happening.

After years of trying to have a baby, they were now faced with the reality of taking home two children. They talked and prayed before deciding that their choice was an obvious one.

“What a blessing,” Kriss said. “That night we got up to go to Cook Children’s and see our son and hold him for the first time. It was the most emotional moment because it seemed so unreal. For him sustaining such a horrible fall, he had no bruising and no broken bones. He was perfect. It was as if God had cupped him in his hands and gently lowered him to the ground.”

They took their new boy, Brady, home first and then two weeks later they got to bring home Britney, who was nearly 3 years old.

Kriss and Riley fostered the two children for a total of 10 months before they could finalize their adoption. They became a “forever family” on Aug. 29, 2005.

And while this story is amazing enough at this point, there were more surprises awaiting the Stewart family.

Following the adoption of Brady and Britney, the Stewarts received a letter in the mail telling them that the children’s biological parents were pregnant and the baby was due in two months. They were asked if they would be interested in raising the baby with the other two kids. Because of a felony charge (injury to a child), the birth parents weren’t able to keep the child.

“When I first found out, I couldn’t help but cry,” Kriss said.

After much discussion, Kriss and Riley made the decision to adopt the third child. After working with CPS over the next two months, the family brought Benjamin into their family at only 30 hours old.

But the couple's story wasn't over. They  still had one more miracle awaiting them. Well, actually two more because in 2012 Kriss learned she was pregnant with twins. Barrett and Brennen Stewart were born on May 22, 2013.

Cook Children’s has helped with everything from Ben’s broken hand to taking Britney to Carla Morton, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist, to determine her age equivalency for her delays, caused by physical abuse from her biological family. Dr. Morton has asked to continue to monitor Britney until she turns 18 to help get her services into adulthood.

“Cook Children’s has been super helpful in navigating our daughter’s long term brain injury. We are fortunate to live so close to the hospital. They have been with us every step of the way,” Kriss said. “We’ve been married 21 years. We are so busy living our lives, but sometimes when we stop and reflect on everything, we just go, ‘wow!’ We have been able to make sure our kids have had their needs taken care of and Cook Children’s has helped us meet those needs. I’m just so humbled to get to be the ones to raise these kids. All of them. Especially when I think about where they would be if we didn’t take them, especially with all of their needs.”

More than 1.5 million people visited checkupnewsroom.com. We thought we would take a look back at our most popular stories written in 2018. Let's start the countdown:

10. Couple Fights To Give Child Abuse Victim, Foster Chlid Forever Home: We begin our countdown with one of the most heartwarming stories of the year. Read about a wonderful family, their fight to make baby Jett their own and the help Cook Children's provided them.

9. Let's Learn Something About Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease!: Leave it to Dr. Diane to make "Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease" interesting.  All of her "Let's Learn" About posts do well and this was no exception.

8. 5 Children Treated for Bath Drownings at Cook Children's in One Month: Sadly, we once again had to talk a lot about drownings in 2018. But we didn't just warn about the dangers of pools or lakes. In May of this year, we got an important message out: "Don't leave your child alone in the bathtub."

7. Father who nearly lost son to a Tide Pod reacts to ‘Tide Pod Challenge’: Remember the Tide Pod Challenge fad of 2018? One family did not think it was amusing. Chris and Heidi Slaydon know all too well the dangers of a child swallowing a laundry detergent pod.

6. What Is Guillain-Barré syndrome?: When we learned that Dallas Cowboys center Travis Frederick  had been diagnosed with this rare neurological disorder, it gave us a chance to talk about GBS. Cook Children's neurologists see between 6 to 10 cases per year.

5. 'Is it RSV?': By the end of November, 178 kids had tested positive for RSV. Here's a quick look at what respiratory syncytial virus is. 

4. Is That Blue Vein Across Your Child's Nose a Sugar Bug?/Here's What You Need to Know About Kanmushi and Sugar Bugs: Have you ever noticed a prominent blue vein across your child's nose? Our Doc Smitty wrote two posts about Sugar Bugs and they both made our Top 10.

3. Can Elderberry and Other 'Alternative' Medications Treat Colds and Flu?: We may have only scratched the surface in talking about Elderberry (look for more articles in 2019), but here's the first post we published on the topic. 

2. Is It Strep Throat or The Flu?: We published this helpful overview to distinguish whether it's strep or flu in January of 2018 and it stayed in our top 10 throughout the year on its way to the No. 2 spot. 

1. Juul, Other E-Cigarettes Called an 'Epidemic' by FDA Chief: With more than 75,000 views, this was our most read story we published this year. We reported on this topic a few times during the course of the year because new information came out about the dangers of e-cigarettes and kids. We talked to Don Wilson, M.D., an endocrinologist at Cook Children's, to learn more about this topic. 

That wraps up another great year. Thank you for reading. We will be back with much more in 2019 and drop us a line in the comments below for any articles you would like to see our experts discuss.

The parents don’t know the child’s social security number or even date a birth, but no one thinks twice because this is so normal to them.

This is part of the Cook Children’s Fostering Health program.

“Limited access to medical care is common among children entering the foster care system,” said Sharon Johnson, a nurse practitioner in the Fostering Health Program. “The goal of the Fostering Health program is to provide medical care using a trauma informed lens. We understand that removals are often due to a combination of trauma experiences and that even a visit to the doctor is unusual. Children in foster care are a very unique patient population that require unique care.”

The team follows the American Academy of Pediatrics’ health care recommendations to provide a health screening within three business days and a well-child checkup within 30 days of removal. During these visits, the team will assess behavioral, developmental and chronic health care needs. The staff also will partner with case managers to help coordinate care with required specialists and act as a continued resource for the children and biological parents.”

The Parents

On their very first date, they talked about adoption.

As Christians, the young couple felt their faith compelled them to take care of the orphaned, those who didn’t have a home or were less fortunate.

Time moved on and the couple married and they adopted their first child.

While their calling was to help children, they knew they could not afford another adoption.

“We looked into becoming foster parents,” “Janet” said. “There’s such a need and so many kids are in the foster care program. We both knew plenty of people aren’t called for it. We were.”

The couple have now been foster parents to three children. Their latest foster child is the first to have been seen by the Fostering Health program at Cook Children’s.

Raising foster children brings a new set of challenges, both logistically and emotionally. They have to:

• Be vetted legally through CPS and the foster care system.
• Be CPR and first-aid trained.
• Go through background checks and be finger printed.
• Make sure anyone who would baby sit or watch their children, also go through a similar process.

The husband and wife say they have seen children come out of very sad situations, where both the birth parents and sometimes even grandparents have a history with CPS. The children are often removed from the birth parents’ homes.

One or both of the birth parents sometimes are battling criminal charges, mental health issues or drug problems.

And then there’s always a chance, the birth family could get their life straightened out the child returns to them and leaves the foster parents.

The couple are currently fostering a daughter a little under a year old after the child’s mother was found to be unfit to care for her child because of psychiatric health care issues as well as the fact that she was homeless.

The child was brought to Cook Children’s Foster Care Program for an initial three-day evaluation. They found the concerns for the child included lack of prenatal care and possibly premature birth (estimated gestational age 36 weeks). The child was seen 10 days later for a weight check and a newborn screening and then two months later for another well-child exam.

The foster parents of the child say the experience at Cook Children’s Foster Care program was much different than previous visits to a pediatrician’s office. In the past, the staff in other pediatric offices didn’t always understand or appreciate the unique needs and concerns of the foster parents and their children. The family spoken to for this story said previous foster well-child visits might take as few as 20 minutes and the staff couldn’t understand that this child was new to the foster parents. They weren’t sure of common questions asked of birth parents such as if the child’s immunization record was updated or different behavioral aspects of the child.

“Previously, the doctor would take less than 20 minutes looking at our child,” “Janet” said. “At Cook Children’s Fostering Health program they spent well over an hour checking her. I just appreciated their understanding of our situation. We didn’t know the things most parents know. It’s not like the child came out me. We didn’t know the family history. We didn’t know anything about this baby.”

The foster mom said she vividly remembers crying on her way home following the first two placement, well-child visits.

“I tried to explain to them, I don’t know the children. I got them less than 24 hours ago,” Janet said. “There are so many elements that’s simply out of control of the foster care parents. We don’t even know the social security number, the birth mom’s name … sometimes they don’t tell you the basic things. I just appreciated the humility of the whole office. They were all walking around oohing and awing. It is a Foster care clinic. They get it like no one else does. I really loved going to Cook Children’s.”

Services provided from the Cook Children’s Fostering Health program include:

• Providing care coordination between foster and primary care physicians, specialists, therapists and behavioral health
• Helping establish a primary care medical home
• Providing sick and well-child visits
• Coordinating with Department of Family and Protective Services and child placement agencies

To schedule an appointment with Cook Children’s Fostering Health program, call 682-885-3953. The team can combine the three-day required visit and the appointment for hair follicle drug testing if the drug test is ordered by Child Protective Services.

The program provides a medical screening within three business days of removal to:

• Assess the child’s overall health and confirm that there is no evidence of abuse
• Find out if child should be taking routine medicines and help with refills if necessary
• Document behavior changes
• Provide a well-child checkup (Texas Health Steps) within 30 days of removal
• Reduce preventable hospitalizations and Emergency Department visits
• Connect children to services such as physical and occupational therapy, behavioral health and specialists visits
• Help foster parents access health care services

To Schedule an Appointment

Caregivers, Child Protective Services representatives and providers can call 682-885-3953 and ask for the fostering health care coordinator or email fosteringhealth@cookchildrens.org.

They just didn’t know exactly how or for how long.

Inside the hospital, nurses and security guards were on high alert. The 2-month-old boy the Shiras were on their way to pick up was under a security watch. He had a broken femur and doctors were certain his injury was no accident. The longest and strongest bone in his body had been snapped in half. On top of that, he was suffering withdrawals from methamphetamine. Child Protective Services (CPS) acted quickly by taking the baby into their custody and beginning the search for a foster family.

“We got a call saying they were ready to discharge this baby and we decided to drive to Fort Worth to pick him up. We didn’t know much, but were told to find a specific nurse and give her a code,” said Katie Shira. “When we first arrived, the staff was very guarded. They weren’t going to let us see him until they figured out we were the foster parents. I was really impressed because they were doing everything to protect him.”

The baby, now known as Jett, was in a Pavlik harness. The full-body contraption kept both of his legs from moving. Katie and Chas listened as nurses explained how they should care for Jett. They had to handle him with extreme caution as the slightest adjustment could cause the baby pain.

When they left the hospital that night, the Shiras had no idea what life had in store. While they both wanted to provide love and support to a child in need, they never imagined the child would be in such a severe state.

“Sometimes I didn’t know if he was crying because his leg was broken or if he was withdrawing from meth,” said Katie. “It was so hard. He would shake and have tremors. His jaw would quiver. It was scary to watch and very sad.”

It took about six months for Jett’s addiction to subside. Slowly, his withdraws faded away and at the same time his leg was healing fast. He was soon able to ditch the harness and begin walking on his own. In many ways, things were looking up, but there was still a tough road ahead.

Jett’s biological family was fighting to get him back. They denied allegations of abusing the little boy and wanted full custody.

After 18 months of Jett living in the Shira’s home, the case finally went to trial. Katie describes the months leading up to that point as some of the most difficult she’s experienced.

“It’s a very odd feeling to have your life in the hands of 12 strangers,” she said. “I was struggling emotionally for two to three months before trial. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. The anticipation of what was about to happen was so daunting.”

Katie and Chas both feared that Jett would be taken away from them. Even worse, they were scared he would be placed back into the care of the people who hurt him.

“When the trial began, the attorneys for the biological parents were arguing that his broken leg was an accident,” said Katie. “It got pretty ugly. Dr. Jamye Coffman was on the stand for 3 or 4 hours. She testified that there was no way this was an accident and his injury could have only been the result of abuse.”

Jamye Coffman, M.D. is a child abuse pediatrician and the medical director of the Child Advocacy Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team at Cook Children’s. She saw Jett soon after he arrived at Cook Children’s and followed his journey back to health and into a new home. It would be great to say that Jett’s case was one of the few Dr. Coffman became involved in that year, but the truth is her office saw 1,520 child abuse visits in 2015.

For the Shira family, having Dr. Coffman and the CARE team on their side was a game-changer. After seven days in court and two hours of deliberation, the jury came back with a decision. The Shiras were granted full custody of Jett.

“It’s funny because I feel like she has no idea what she has done for us. She changed the entire dynamic of the trial,” said Katie with audible emotion in her voice. “I get teary thinking about her because I believe she is an angel walking among us.”

For Dr. Coffman, knowing the outcome of cases like Jett’s help her stay motivated.

“Sometimes we don’t know if what we’re doing is really making a difference in a particular child’s life,” Dr. Coffman said. “Knowing that we helped a child is what keeps us going.”

Jett is now 2 years old and was officially adopted by the Shiras in January. Katie says there are days when she still can’t believe he’s theirs.

“It’s still kind of surreal that we don’t have to worry about his safety and well-being. He can just live with us forever,” she said.

In addition to becoming an official Shira, Jett is about to take on a new role. Katie and Chas are expecting their first child in May meaning Jett is about to become a big brother.

“We always wanted to have our own children, but we really wanted to adopt first,” Katie said. “We realized there are kids out there who don’t have the convenience of waiting until we have our perfect family. There are kids at the CPS office right now who just need someone to say yes.”

Adopting Jett Video

About the CARE Team

Led by pediatricians who are board-certified in child abuse medicine, the Cook Children's Child Advocacy Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team provides medical evaluations, psychosocial assessments and preventive education. Most CARE team examinations are conducted following a referral from Child Protective Services, a law enforcement agency or a medical provider.

The team provides medical evaluations for:

• Sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• Other forms of child maltreatment
• Neglect
• Drug exposure
• Medical child abuse

Find more information by clicking here.