Articles labeled: mother death

The New York Times today profiles Kerron Rhaday, 16, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer and is now living with her older sister, Sharon Rhaday, 37, who is her legal guardian. The piece details how Rhaday has been helped by the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation of New York, which is supported by the New York Neediest Cases Fund), highlighting the importance of such charity to provide counseling, school tuition and more to ensure these kids don’t fall through the cracks after a devastating loss.

In July, Kerron started seeing Emma Dorfman, a social worker at the agency, weekly. “The counseling really helps,” Kerron said. “Emma, she helps you down the right path.”

The right path was hard to find after her mother’s death.

“When you have a mom,” Kerron said, “and see her every day like that, for me it was hard to concentrate a lot in school, because most times I would cry and stuff.”

Kerron, who had been a 10th grader at Sheepshead Bay High School, in Brooklyn, missed class to care for her mother.

She did not return to school after her mother died. “It’s stupid decisions, but at the time that’s what was best for me, I felt,” Kerron said.

In the fall, she started attending classes at an alternative high school program at the Jewish Board center, where she sees Ms. Dorfman. The one-year program helps students get back on track before returning to a mainstream high school, Ms. Dorfman said.