Jack’s wife died of Parkinson’s disease after 2 years of diagnosis. Two years later, his youngest daughter fell of a building, leading him to experience suicidal thoughts. He had to go to court for leaving his child home alone, but with ChickenSoup’s guidance, he managed to be jail-free, allowing him to take responsibility in taking care of his two other daughters. Now, he is supporting other parents who were in his position.
FIC#38: Jack and His Family
When Jack’s daughters were aged 9, 7 and 5, he closed his barber shop in 2017, as his wife was diagnosed with rare brain diseases. In 2019, she passed away peacefully. In 8/2021, another tragedy hit when the youngest daughter fell from their building.
Prompted by our daily news scan, CSF recruited this family in 10/2021 via the Social Welfare Department. The family was immediately relocated to a new unit to mitigate the risk of suicides. Midway in our grievance counseling program, DOJ decided to prosecute Jack with 4 child-neglect charges.
With much guilt, Jack intended to plead guilty, which would likely result in imprisonment. Jack later agreed to work with a lawyer hired by CSF. Miraculously, he was acquitted of all charges but imposed a bind over order, ending the 9-month trial.
Jack is now volunteering in hairdressing and leading our “Loss-of-love-one” self-help community group. CSF raised a scholarship for Elisa & Vania to realize their respective career goals in criminology and computer-engineering.
In 2021, through this report from HK01, the ChickenSoup Foundation reached out to assist Jack. Now, he is already a member of ChickenSoup for more than 21 months.
If you encounter any family that needs a helping hand and would like to refer them to us, please follow the instructions below.
Please read the introduction of our program.
Please complete this questionnaire to refer eligible families. Due to the large volume of applications, we will only be able to respond to successful applicants.
