Ask
Ken and Doreen Silva of Warwick,
RI about the most important thing
in their lives. Without missing
a beat, Ken who is a garbage truck
driver for the City of Warwick,
and Doreen, a stay at home mom
and advocate for fostering and
open adoption, will say it is
the health and welfare of their
five children and their two foster
children. Over the last six years
the Silva’s, in addition
to raising their two biological
children, have fostered thirteen
children and adopted three of
those children. All of the children
have special needs.
Raising children
is never easy under the best
of circumstances and the challenges
the Silva’s face are compounded
on a daily basis by the health
problems linked to each of their
children. Son Kenny is 14 and
was diagnosed with high functioning
autism, OCD and sensory integration
disorder. Despite these issues
he plays on a special-education
baseball team with his brother
Mathew and is a loyal New England
sports fan. He has also inherited
a love of Nascar from his Dad,
Ken.
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The Silva Family & Member's
of the
Oldport Homes Team
Photo Credit:
Darcie Di Saia
Photo Editor/Photographer, Warwick
Beacon |
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Mathew, 11, has also
been diagnosed with a milder form
of autism, sensory integration disorder,
and dyslexia. He loves history, is
learning to play the violin and asked
his Mom, Doreen, who home schools
all of the children if they could
learn Chinese this year as part of
their curriculum. He also has a newspaper
delivery route which he has learned
to manage all by himself. Of late
he has been growing his hair long
and wants to donate it to Locks of
Love.
When the Silva’s
began fostering children they say
that they decided to make it their
mission to find a home for every abandoned
child without a home in the Rhode
Island foster care system. Mom, Doreen
says, “We see the needs of these
children and cannot say we cannot
help. It is so important to us to
know we are doing everything we can
to help. Children don’t usually
have a voice so they need someone
to give them that.” Their 3
adopted children, Isaiah, 6, Jayedin,
5 and Sammy, 2 all have physical and
cognitive issues ranging from allergies
and asthma to learning disabilities.
The family also has two other foster
children in their care right now.
This past September
the Silva’s were dealt a huge
blow, when, following the children’s
physical examinations, that learned
that they all had high levels of lead
in their systems. The Rhode Island
Health Department issued letters to
the Silva’s describing the dangers
of lead to their children and informed
them that they may take the foster
children out of the home if they do
not remedy the problem.
Upon learning of these
dangerous levels of lead, the Silva’s
requested an inspection of their home
and property and the outcome was devastating.
Their home was found to carry dangerous
levels of lead in almost every common
area of the home -- bathroom, closets,
kitchen, in two of the children’s
bedrooms, in the basement and in the
backyard where the children play.
With their limited resources, the
Silva’s resurfaced and repainted
areas of concern throughout the house
but a follow-up inspection indicated
that the cosmetic improvements they
made did not even begin to resolve
the lead problem. The home inspector
outlined a long dangerous list of
toxic levels throughout the inside
and outside of the home and indicated
that short of gutting the home and
removing tons of contaminated soil
from around the home the lead issue
would continue to be a health hazard
to the entire family.
Ken and Doreen
do not have the resources to remedy
this frightening situation. They have
put all of their financial resources
towards raising their children. They
have never taken a vacation. And they
are extremely concerned that the two
foster children in their care, a boy
who is 10 months, and a girl who is
6 months old, whom they have had since
infancy, will be removed from the
only home they have known.
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