brenda's story of how others gave up, but tenncare saved her granchildren's lives

My grandchildren were ages 6 and 8 when they came to live with me and my husband. They were abused, homeless, wild, angry, violent and delusional. They were dysfunctional in every area of their being. Their biological parents had multiple untreated severe mental illnesses.

Due to TennCare, we were able to get our grandchildren the mental health they needed. Without TennCare we would not have had the resources to pay for their mental health services and we would have had to turn them over to the state.

Without TennCare services, crisis management services, children psychiatric hospitals, and intensive residential treatment facilities...these 2 children did not have had a chance at survival and nor did the persons who crossed their paths.

THANKS TO TENN CARE services of TN, both children are thriving. They are now 18 and 20 yrs old.

My granddaughter, now 20, has the right diagnosis and medication. Marlanna's emotions and PTSD are in check, as well as her homicidal delusions. She is no longer crying out asking God to kill her. She gets up every day, takes her medications and helps her family. She is going to be trained to be a BRIDGES teacher. Without the proper treatment she received thru TennCare, we know our granddaughter would have succeeded at killing herself. TennCare services saved her life and now she lives a productive life, causing no harm to herself our others.

Our grandson, now 18 yrs old, has the right diagnosis and medication. Without TennCare's extensive services, Michael's burning brain would have left a path of destruction across TN and he too would have ceased to exist. Although schools, providers and residential treatment centers gave up on Michael, our TennCare services never gave up...

My husband and I are forever grateful for the services TennCare provided for Michael and Marlanna that we could not.

- Brenda Stacey-Scott