Please visit: Card For The Day

Dori And Friends

At Kenquest House, a small stone and brick home for babies and their teen mothers, Dori Branson is a clinical case manager. "Not Mom," she says. More like...stickler, Referee, Therapist, Coach. Or, as the girls say, laughing as they crowd into Kenquest's sunny kitchen after school, balancing babies on their hips, mixing formula and pulling out ground beef for dinner--simply "The Boss." Indeed, Branson runs a tight ship. Kenquest's live-in program teaches the teens--deemed by the state to be delinquent or abused, neglected kids--to create a stable, happy and healthy life. And so, house chores, school, savings accounts, clean rooms, family dinners and communication skills--right down to writing thank-you notes for birthday gifts--aren't optional. "They're living my worst nightmare," says Branson of the teen mothers. "But they show me every day that they can do it. They have to choose to be parents--good parents--and they are." "They're not repeating the cycle." The young mothers are, however, inspiring Branson to take on one more title: their biggest fan. From Traverse Magazine Northern Michigan's Magazine April 2005 Please Don't Forget To Visit Proud Mama, Sharon (PartridgeLady)