Teen, mom share story of family addiction with youth Police Academy

YOUNGSTOWN

At 13 months old, Skyann Cvetkovich was placed in foster care after her mother was arrested on drug-related charges.

She was able to return home at age 5 after her mother got clean.

When she participated in a Youth Police Academy program in grade school, police officer Delphine Baldwin-Casey had no idea that Skyann – who she describes as a star pupil – had gone through that life-changing event.

Now 17, Skyann returned to the police academy Tuesday to share her story. She was joined by her mom, Tina. The two shared their family’s experience with drug addiction with about a dozen children between the ages of 8 and 13 who are in Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church’s KINGS summer day camp.

For five weeks of the camp, Baldwin-Casey, a retired Youngstown police officer who recently joined the Campbell police department, led weekly, one-hour classes. With the opioid epidemic affecting many families in the Mahoning Valley, Baldwin-Casey thought it would be a good idea to focus on drugs.

Substance-abuse issues run deep for Tina and Skyann’s family.

“I am the fifth generation of my immediate family to have addiction problems,” Tina told the group.

Read more of their story in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.