SEATTLE - Thirty-four-year-old Brandy Lopez has come a long way.
"I'm proud of who I am today," she said.
Brandy has full custody of her baby daughter, but it wasn't always that way.
"I was addicted to heroin and meth," she said.
Homeless, addicted and in no shape to parent, baby Grace spent the first year of her life in foster care.
"When this all started, I didn't think I deserved to be a parent anymore. Brandy, however, is being honored today because she did what the social workers asked - she got sober, found a place to live and today her 16-month-old baby Grace is back home.
"I felt pride, for the first time in my life I felt pride because they seen the mother and not the addict," said Brandy.
Two other mothers were also granted custody today through the state's reunification program.
"When Child Protective Services removes a child from a parent's custody, our very first goal is to get that child back with that family," said Nancy Roberts-Brown with the organization Catalyst For Kids.
"Before she was born I said I want my daughter's name to be Grace," said Brandy's husband Francisco. "I said by the grace of God she will come home."
Brandy and her husband say believe it or not this is the best thing that could have ever happened to them.
"I know we will be a huge success because of how far we've come."
The state says about 67 percent of children in foster care are reunited with their parents or a guardian.
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