Today I read a touching article about Roberta Bell, and felt that she would be a very apropos candidate go a Sunday piece. The story basically starts two years ago.
From CBS News 2023:
The 58-year-old lives in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and is raising five of her eight grandchildren. Earlier this year, there was another child who needed her care.
“There was an inmate that needed assistance, some help. She was pregnant,” Bell said.
Bell, a correctional officer at the Louisiana Transitional Center for Women, met Katie Bourgeois, who had about two months left on her sentence — but was about to give birth. Bell said there wasn’t anyone in Bourgeois’ family who could get the newborn, and that she was looking for someone who could care for the baby until she was released. Bourgeois asked Bell if she would take in the baby, and Bell agreed.
Bell said she alerted her supervisor to the situation. She said that he warned her that it was a conflict of interest, but later asked her if she was still planning on caring for the baby.
“I said, if the hospital calls me to come get that baby, I’m going to get that baby,” Bell said. “And he said, ‘Well, OK, I’m going to have to terminate you.'”
And that’s what happened!
One week after losing her job, Bell was informed that the baby, named Kayson, had been born. She told CBS News that she “started taking pictures.”
Months later after Bourgeois was released, she picked Kayson up. The child was later placed in foster care with parents, Skylar and Christian Moore, who adopted him after the mother relapsed into drug use.
Bell said, “It just broke my heart” when she found out Bourgeois relapsed. “I had sacrificed to make sure that he would be taken care of.” However, Kayson’s new parents, Skylar and Christian Moore, reached out to Bell after finding out she had previously taken care of the child.
“This was basically her baby. You know, she had him for the first couple months of his life and now she didn’t know where he was,” Skylar Moore said. “In my heart, I told my husband, I can’t let her go to sleep another night, not knowing that he’s safe.”
What Bell didn’t know when she arrived at the courthouse on May 4, 2025 was that the Moores had applied to adopt Kayson. Judge Jeffrey Cashe made the adoption official, with Bell as the guest of honor. Roberta Bell was overcome with emotion.
The couple plans to continue including Bell in Kayson’s life.
5/11/25