OKC Family Fundraising To Help Child In Need Of Service Dog

An Oklahoma City Police Officer and his family are on a mission.

They have started a social media campaign to help a special little guy they adopted. He was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and could really use a service dog to help with his special needs!

Cruz Smith, 4, is bundle of energy. He is one of three special needs children the Smiths have adopted to be part of their large and loving family.

"You know there's thousands of kids but we can at least help one," said Oklahoma City Police Officer Will Smith, who is a school resource officer at Capital Hill High School.

They ended up helping a lot more than just one. In the nine years they have been foster parents, Will and his wife Anne have helped care for more than two dozen kids. That's how they met Cruz, who was born three months premature and who had already been exposed to drugs and alcohol.

"We just fell in love with this cute little guy, he was so tiny," said Smith. "I would see these poor little kids in a terrible situation thinking, ‘Wow’, seems like they have two strikes against them already, if they could just have a little stability. And a big part of that is coming from the home."

Smith said they also discovered the love of the family dog Molly really helped Cruz with his development. Molly is their 7-year-old English Mastiff. Unfortunately, she is toward the end of her life and has some health issues too.

"She'll just lay on the floor, let the kids lay on her like a pillow and jump all over her, she just sits there and takes it," said Smith.

The Smiths say Molly also seemed to help calm Cruz down, and help with his nightmares.

"She would just lay up there with him and when she was in the bed with him, he wouldn't have them," said Smith.

Then the Smiths heard of a group called “Agvocates for Exceptional Individuals”, that finds and trains canines to be service dogs to help kids just like Cruz.

"We found another child that has fetal alcohol syndrome that has a service dog and it really helped them with the problems that they have," said Smith.

The Smiths have already raised enough for a deposit, but they still need about $7,000 more to get Cruz his specially trained service dog. 

They hope it happens soon, just in case Molly doesn't make it.

News 9 plans to follow the Smiths on their journey to get a service dog. The family said they are also helping raise money and awareness for other special needs children and trying to get Agvocates for Exceptional Individuals into Capital Hill High School too.

For more information and to donate click here.