Mother & sons

Jet, May 12, 2003

* MOTHER & SONS: Saleem, 7 (c), gets help with his tie from his mother, Eva Thibaudeau-Graczyk, as his brother Isaiah, 8, passes time with a good book, following a press conference at the Texas state Capitol in Austin. Thibaudeau-Graczyk of Houston adopted the boys over a year ago after having cared for them as a foster parent for about five years.

"We just kept fostering because they didn't have anywhere to go," said Thibaudeau-Graczyk. "... The fact is that I am blessed to have them in my life." She spoke against HB 1911, a proposed legislation that would ban any unmarried Texan from serving as a foster parent. If passed it is estimated that the bill, displacing 2,252 children, would close 1,560 foster homes with single parents.