One-Of-A-Kind Minneapolis Support Group Helps Mothers Who Lost Custody Of Their Kids

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A group of women who sometimes feel like they've been written off from society are gathering for help and healing, in what's a one-of-a-kind support group.

What happens in the group may seem intense. Bellis is a nonprofit were mothers who've lost custody of their children can find support, and it's based right here in Minneapolis.

"I get calls from Maine, California, Missouri, Georgia, saying could the women in my community be part of this," executive director Jenny Eldredge said. "Typically, it involves addiction, domestic violence, mental health, incarceration, just layers of trauma."

That was the case for Megan from St. Cloud, who asked WCCO not to use her last name.

"I have struggled with addiction for 22 years of my life. I came from a broken home, and it's just been a struggle," she said.

She found sobriety and faith at Adult and Teen Challenge, where she is about to graduate from a 13-month program. Unlike her peers at treatment, she won't be going home to her kids. Her teenager lives with his father in northern Minnesota, and her youngest was adopted after she lost custodial rights.

"Honestly, before I came here, I felt hopeless. I felt I couldn't get anywhere with my daughter, and I wasn't gonna hear from her," Megan said.

But with the guidance she got with Bellis, she did get to hear how her daughter is doing from her adopted family.

"They sent me five pictures of her, and she's grown so much -- she's got glasses now, she's got her two front teeth...They just let me know they are going to do anything they can to fulfill her hopes and dreams and they know the hardest thing for me to do was to let her go," Megan said. "I was in tears, I was bawling. It meant to world to me."

Bellis has in-person and online support groups for mothers who lost rights and mothers who willingly choose adoption. They are a private group, funded by donations and grants.

"For any woman who thinks 'I don't deserve support, I don't deserve love, I don't deserve happiness because of something that's happened to me,' this is a place where they can come and feel fully accepted," Eldredge said.

Bellis is a private group funded by donations and grants. The organization has in-person and online support groups for moms who've lost custody rights of their children or who willingly chose adoption.