She sat in the NICU for days at a time, alone. No parent hovering behind her. No partner holding her hand. No friend sneaking in snacks or whispering encouragement. Just a 14-year-old girl and three babies so small they each weighed less than two pounds.

Shariya Small had just delivered premature triplets at 26 weeks of gestation, more than three months ahead of schedule. Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah arrived in August 2020 at a hospital in Indianapolis before being transferred to Community Hospital North’s NICU. Most eighth-graders were worrying about homework and friendships. Small was watching monitors blink and beep over three fragile lives she had brought into the world.

Among the nurses rotating through that unit was Katrina Mullen, a 45-year-old neonatal nurse who had spent 23 years caring for premature babies and anxious families. She had seen thousands of parents pass through those doors. But something about Small caught her attention, and she refused to let go. Neither woman could have predicted what would happen next.

One Nurse Who Refused to Look Away

A few days after the triplets arrived, Mullen walked up to Small and asked a simple question. Had she eaten? Was she okay? Could she grab her something from Starbucks?

Small barely responded. Her guard was up, her voice almost nonexistent. She kept her head down and avoided eye contact with most of the medical staff. Fear of judgment kept her locked inside herself. She was, after all, a 14-year-old mother of three. She assumed everyone around her had already made up their minds about who she was.

Mullen did not push. She just kept showing up. A kind word here, a bit of small talk there, a warm presence that asked for nothing in return. Day after day, she made herself available without making Small feel pressured. Still, the walls stayed up.

A Shared Secret That Changed Everything

Mullen understood something about Small that most people in that hospital never could. At 16, she had gotten pregnant herself. She had given that baby up for adoption. Carrying that experience with her for decades gave Mullen a quiet authority on the shame and isolation that come with teen pregnancy. One day, she decided to tell Small. She shared her story plainly. No lecture. No pity. Just truth. She told the teenager that she knew how frightening it was to be young and pregnant, and she offered herself as someone Safe to talk to.

Something shifted. Small, who had been so guarded for weeks, began to open up. She started leaning on Mullen for comfort and advice. A bond formed between the two mothers, separated by age and circumstance but connected by an experience most people never have to face.

“I was probably the only teen mom on the floor, and it finally felt good to talk to somebody,” Small later said. She and Mullen started talking about everything, from how to care for the babies to how to cope with the weight of it all. Mullen became the one person Small trusted.

Over the next five months, while Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah grew stronger in their incubators, so did the relationship between their mother and her nurse.

Going Home With a Phone Number and a Promise

In January 2021, the triplets were well enough to leave the hospital. Five months of round-the-clock medical care had brought them to a place of relative stability. Before Small walked out with her three babies, Mullen handed her a phone number and a simple message. Call me if you need anything.

At that point, Mullen had no idea where Small lived, who she lived with, or what her home life looked like. She just knew that a 14-year-old with premature triplets and no visible support system might need a lifeline. She had no idea how soon that lifeline would be tested.

Phone Calls That Told the Real Story

Small started calling almost immediately. Multiple times a day, often in tears, overwhelmed and desperate for someone to tell her she could do it. She was staying with a relative in Kokomo, about an hour from Mullen’s home in Brownsburg, Indiana. No safety net. No backup. Just a teenager trying to keep three infants alive.

Mullen talked her through it each time. Breathe. You can do it. I’m here. But the frequency and intensity of the calls told a story that words alone could not. Something was wrong, and it went beyond the normal chaos of caring for triplets. Concern turned into action. Mullen got in her car and drove to Kokomo.

A Home Visit That Sounded Every Alarm

What Mullen found shook her. Small was sleeping on a couch. Her three babies shared a single playpen and one bassinet between them. Conditions in the home were far from what any infant, let alone three premature ones, needed to thrive.

But the most alarming sight was Samari. He looked thin, dangerously so. Eczema and scratches covered his small body. Mullen urged Small to take him to a hospital right away.

Doctors diagnosed the baby with failure to thrive. He was not gaining weight at a normal rate. After further testing, they discovered a formula allergy had been starving him of the nutrition he needed.

While Samari received treatment at the hospital, Small asked Mullen if she could watch Serenitee and Sarayah. Mullen brought the two girls home to her house, where she lived with three of her sons. It was supposed to be temporary. It became permanent in ways no one saw coming.

Four Lives on the Line, One Phone Call to Answer

A caseworker from Child Protective Services called Mullen with news that would change both women’s lives. Small and her three children were being removed from the Kokomo home. All four of them would enter the foster care system, and separation was almost certain. Finding a single foster home willing to take a teenage mother and her three premature babies? Almost impossible. Everyone involved knew it. But Small had given the caseworker one name. Mullen.

When asked if she would be willing to foster all four of them, Mullen did not pause. She said yes on the spot. No calculations. No pros and cons list. Just instinct and love. “I didn’t even think it through. Everybody in my life thought I was insane, and I probably was at that point, but I could not let her be separated from them.”

Her own household already included three boys, ages 16, 15, and 8. Adding a teenager and three infants to that mix would test every limit she had. She completed foster parent training, passed background checks, and prepared her home.

On April 9, 2021, Small and her babies arrived at Mullen’s front door. Everything they owned fit inside a single duffel bag. They never left.

Building a Family Nobody Planned For

Adjustment came slowly. Eight children under one roof, with three of them being infants, created a level of noise and need that would have broken most people. But Mullen’s sons stepped up. They welcomed Small and the triplets with open arms, and the household found its rhythm over time.

Small enrolled in an alternative high school that offered child care, giving her a chance to finish her education while raising her babies. Mullen worked hospital shifts on weekends and helped care for the toddlers during weekdays. Friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers showed up with baby supplies and support. Both women describe the experience in honest terms. Exhausting. Stressful. Hard. But neither one would trade it.

Small put it plainly. If she had to choose between herself and her kids, she would choose her kids every single time. She never expected it to be easy.

From Foster Care to Forever

For 688 days, Mullen served as Small’s foster parent. During that time, she watched the teenager grow from a scared girl into a determined young mother who absorbed every lesson she could about caring for her children.

After Small’s biological mother agreed to terminate her parental rights, Mullen made a decision. She would adopt Small. Not just foster her. Not just help her along. Claim her as family, in full, with no expiration date.

On February 6, 2023, a judge made it official. Mullen became Small’s mother. Serenitee, Samari, and Sarayah became her grandchildren. “I’m her mom, and I’m never going anywhere,” Mullen said.

A Future Built on What She Survived

Small graduated from her alternative high school and earned acceptance to two local colleges. She plans to study social work and dedicate her career to helping other teen mothers find the support she rarely had. Mullen launched a GoFundMe campaign to build a financial cushion for the family. Donations passed $35,500, with a portion set aside for Small’s college education and plans.

At nearly three years old, the triplets are growing well. Despite some developmental challenges tied to their premature birth, each one is blossoming into a distinct little person with a personality all their own. Small calls them her best friends.

Grace Over Judgment

Public attention brought both love and cruelty. When news outlets covered the story, hurtful comments poured in, directed at Small’s age and circumstances. Some people could not see past the headline to find the human being behind it.

Both women chose to keep the details of Small’s life before the babies private. Whatever happened before August 2020 belongs to Small alone, and she owes no one an explanation. Mullen has been vocal about asking people to lead with compassion rather than assumptions. Small echoed that call with words that carry a weight far beyond her years. “If you open your heart and you don’t judge anybody based off one thing, then we’d all be good in the world.” Small said.

A neonatal nurse with five kids of her own did not have to say yes. She did not have to drive to Kokomo. She did not have to answer that phone call from CPS with anything other than a polite decline. But she saw a girl who needed someone to believe in her, and she refused to look away. Sometimes, family is not about blood or biology. Sometimes, it starts with a cup of Starbucks coffee and the courage to ask, “Have you eaten today?”

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