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Woman in Warren moves from cocaine addict to loving mom
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
Photo
Nicole Binion of Warren stands with her 13-year-old son Marquise, .left, and her 21-month-old son Eli'jah outside of St. Demetrios .Banquet Hall in Warren, where Nicole was honored for Rising Up and .Moving On from a past that included drug addiction and prostitution .to regain custody of Eli'jah and re-establish her relationship with .Marquise.
Nicole Binion’s lifestyle as a teen growing up in Warren didn’t lend itself to motherhood: She used crack cocaine and heroin and turned to prostitution for money.
Yet 13 years later, she’s proof that people can change and put their lives back on track, her case worker at the Trumbull County Children’s Services Board told an audience at St. Demetrios Banquet Center Tuesday.
“Nicole has completely transformed her life and has become the parent that she always knew in her heart that she could be,” Colleen Lyden said during CSB’s Rising Up and Moving On luncheon.
Nicole gave birth to Marquise 13 years ago when she was 18 — at a time when she was incapable of being a good mother to him, so she gave the boy to a relative to raise, and he remains there to this day.
In 2007, she gave birth to another son, Isaiah, who went into CSB custody.
“Nicole’s battle with cocaine and heroin was central to her involvement with our agency,” Lyden said of that time period. “Her life consisted of time spent in and out of jail and daily drug use.”
Nicole was pregnant again in 2008, and the chances of this child living with Nicole were looking very slim. But according to Lyden, that’s when things changed.
“There is often a moment in time that shapes our future and either makes or breaks us,” Lyden said. “For Nicole, that moment arrived when she learned that the agency would be seeking permanent custody of Isaiah.”
At the custody hearing for Isaiah, Lyden said she could tell that Nicole wanted to change.
“In looking across the table into Nicole’s eyes, it was obvious that she was coming to grips with the reality that had consumed her life. She was about to possibly lose Isaiah forever and risked losing her unborn child as well.
“Nicole never turned back from that moment,” Lyden said. Nicole began drug treatment and parenting-education classes.
When Eli’jah was born in August 2008, Nicole had not progressed far enough in her recovery to take custody of the baby.
For over a year, Nicole visited Eli’jah in foster care and established a loving bond with him, Lyden said.
“Eli’jah has always smiled the biggest smiles with the most contagious laughter when he is in the arms of his mother,” the case worker said.
Nicole was granted custody of Eli’jah last November, and she has also maintained contact with Marquise, though she eventually gave up custody of Isaiah so that he could continue to live with his foster family.
“Thinking only of Isaiah, Nicole stated that ‘To remove him from the only family he has ever known would be cruel, and I love my child too much to do that to him,’” Lyden said.
Also honored by CSB:
Dr. Adel Youssef, a Warren physician who has paid for a bowling party and Super Bowl party for children living at CSB.
Tony Potts of Mineral Ridge and Hank Rochette of Fairview Park near Cleveland for their work with Bikes for Kids in providing over 500 bicycles to area children.