Indiana nurse adopts teen mother and her triplets
Indianapolis --- At Community Hospital North in Indianapolis, newborn intensive care nurse Katrina Mullen has a reputation for going above and beyond. But the lengths she went to for a set of triplets and their 14-year-old mother was beyond compare.
"Being that age and having all three babies premature and sick, it was going to be a hard road for her," Mullen told CBS News.
Mullen, once a teenage mother herself, knew that this young mom, Shariya Small, didn't have a stable home life. So even after the babies were discharged, Mullen continued to visit them and shower them with gifts.
"I mean, I loved her, I loved them, and I wanted to see her become a successful parent," Mullen said.
The support was new for Small.
"She was just there," Small said. "She was there emotionally. She was there physically. She was there mentally."
However, Small still didn't have a proper home for the kids, and eventually, the Indiana Department of Child Services intervened. They began looking for a foster family, or more like multiple foster families, because finding one place for a teenage mother and her triplets would be nearly impossible.
And that's when Small got a text message from Mullen that simply read, "I can't wait for you to come home."
Never mind that Mullen already had five kids of her own, she took on these other four without giving it a second thought.
"It's been exhausting," Mullen said. "It's been crazy and busy. But I've never once sat and said I wish I hadn't done this."
Just a few months ago, Mullen adopted Shariya, who just finished high school and now plans to go to college, all thanks to the nurse who went above and beyond.