State Rep. Tarah Toohil’s beloved foster brother died nearly two decades ago, but she only recently found his burial site — an unmarked grave in a pauper’s cemetery in Sweet Valley.
The Toohil family had hoped to adopt Brandon Stuchkus and give him a forever home, but the 8-year-old boy suddenly died when a stack of wood fell on him inside a barn at their farm in Butler Township.
“It was the worst day of my life,” Toohil said while recalling the tragic accident on June 3, 1997, when she was a junior in high school. “I had just gotten home and I heard my mother screaming.”
Brandon’s death and his traumatic struggle through the child welfare system charted the course of Toohil’s career — from law school to the state House, where the Republican legislator represents the 116th District and serves as secretary of the Children and Youth Committee.
“That was the day I was like, ‘I’m going to grow up and one day change the foster care system,’ ” Toohil said. “What he had gone through in his little life was so hard on him.”
Brandon was the inspiration and namesake behind Brandon’s Forever Home, a former mansion on Church Street in Hazleton that was converted into a center to serve the needs of the area’s foster children. Toohil and her friend, attorney and foster parent Lorine Ogurkis, launched the nonprofit center 15 months ago after the fledgling operation outgrew Ogurkis’ home.
The issue of foster care and adoption made news recently when Ogurkis adopted a 21-year-old in a public court ceremony that garnered considerable media attention. Toohil served as the adopted woman’s attorney.
For Toohil, it became a chance to again share the story of Brandon’s plight and tell people about the boy who loved Superman and wanted to be a police officer, like the Toohil family’s neighbor Daniel O’Donnell, who is now district judge.
“This picture was the most special to me,” Toohil said recently at Brandon’s Forever Home while holding up a framed picture of the smiling boy. “He was so happy.”
The photo has traveled everywhere with Toohil, from college to law school to Harrisburg. He was her little buddy.
Toohil said her family cared for Brandon since he was 3 years old, but after his death they weren’t even welcome at his funeral. The birth family immediately filed legal action. Even though Brandon was a ward of the state, Brandon’s body was given back to his birth family — the same people whose abuse put him in foster care in the first place, Toohil said.
Court records show the case against Toohil’s parents was dismissed on summary judgement. Toohil said the court made an “in loco parentis” ruling that the Toohils were Brandon’s lawful guardians.
“We never had any closure or the ability to say goodbye to him,” she said. “Brandon’s Forever Home is part of that process, the healing for my family.”
Toohil is planning a memorial service for Brandon at his grave site, which will soon get a tombstone with a Superman logo etched on it, along with the words “Sweet boy, beloved brother and son. Always in our hearts.”
At the time Brandon was in the child welfare system, he was continually allowed to visit his abusive birth family in Sherman Hills in Wilkes-Barre, the environment that the system was supposed to be shielding him from, Toohil said.
“He would go back and forth, back and forth. The parents kept getting chance after chance. He really was strung along and it had a psychological effect on him,” Toohil said. “It was a long process where he was going to be adopted by us, but then the mother would say, ‘I’m going to keep you.’ Then she would say, ‘No. I’m not.’ For an 8-year-old, that was very hard for him.”
Toohil’s parents, Peter and Barbara, adopted Brandon’s sister.
The siblings were among the more than 40 foster children the couple cared for during a 10-year period after moving back to the area from Boston in 1992. After Barbara Toohil’s mother died, she left them her farmhouse in Butler Township.
“Tarah was an only child. We had five bedrooms and we had all this space,” Barbara explained. “We didn’t want to raise her alone.”
Barbara said she enjoyed the experience of making a difference in the lives of vulnerable kids.
“We felt it was a worthwhile cause,” Barbara said. “We got a lot of joy out of it.”
Tarah said she hopes Brandon’s story will inspire others.
“We need to do a better job connecting children with forever homes,” Tarah said.
ABOUT: Brandon’s Forever Home at 187 N. Church St. in Hazleton is a center that serves the needs of foster children throughout the area. The nonprofit center is filled with donations — from toys and cribs to toiletries and clothing — that could be used by foster children. Dinners and other events are often held at the property, a former mansion built in 1907. For information, call 570-926-5117 or visit www.brandonsforeverhome.com.