The New Social Worker Vol. 19, No. 3, Summer 2012 | Page 5

Student Role Model

Tayloe Compton
by Barbara Trainin Blank

Tayloe Compton
has a sense of wonderment that she has
arrived at this point—
earning a B.A. in social
work in May from the
University of North
Carolina at Pembroke.

Along the way, she
has overcome daunting
challenges: her parents’
separation when Compton was only two; longterm drug addiction;
losing her first child—a
son—because of that
addiction; and nearly
losing her second, a
daughter. Most recently,
she is also dealing with
her father’s health issues
and dementia.

The difficulties also
honed her “compassion
for the underdog.” She
remembers in sixth or
seventh grade sticking
up for a boy who was
being picked on. “But I
also was guilty of picking on people; it was
early signs of being an
addict vs. being my true
self,” Compton explains.
She is candid about
the bumps along the
road.

“I was raised by my
father and his mother,”
she says. “I have no
recollection of my mom,
but subconsciously, I’m
sure I do.”

Originally, Compton had no plans to attend college. When she
did, she didn’t do well
because of her addiction. She had assorted
jobs afterward, including
working at a photography business and
waitressing for some 18

years, where drug and alcohol use were
common.

Compton was married and divorced
20 years ago. Then, eight years ago, she
became pregnant with a boyfriend. “I
would have loved to be a mother and
stop doing drugs,” she says. “But I hated
myself and was dissociated from my family, as well as a convicted felon because
of the drugs. They took my son, Tyler,
away in the hospital.”

Compton was actually “relieved.”
She didn’t know what to do with a child
and wanted to provide him with “something better.” Tyler, who turned eight in
January, was taken in by a foster family,
who later adopted him.

Compton became pregnant again,
with another man. “I thought about abortion, but by the time I decided to do it, it
was too late to abort, so I sought medical
care. The doctors were kind.” At five
months’ gestation, the fetus developed
fluid and wasn’t expected to live. But
she did. “Both my children had to be on
phenobarbital because of the drugs, but
luckily had no [ill] effects,” she says.

Her daughter, named Summer, also
went into foster care. The family was
interested in adopting her, but Compton
had made up her mind. She was going to
overcome her habit. After detoxing for
two weeks, she underwent treatment, for
the fourth time. This time was different.
“I put a sign out in the backyard: ‘No
drugs or alcohol allowed.’” Although she
lived 10 miles outside of town and had
no car, Compton walked half a mile every day to call her sponsor. She got a job.
At 38, she found her life turning around.
“I’ll always [technically] be a drug addict,
but I feel free,”she adds.

When Summer was a year and three
months old, she went to live with her
mother. “It was a super-successful outcome—by the grace of God and timing.
I got full custody. My child is a blessing
in life every day. She is beautiful and
happy,” Tayloe says.

Compton had a neighbor who was
chair of the board of Care Network, a
food pantry/soup kitchen funded by
several churches. She began to volunteer

Tayloe Compton
and eventually became a paid volunteer coordinator. “I loved the job,” she
says. “I had been homeless and on Food
Stamps, so I understood the clients.”
Compton also realized she had leadership qualities.

That wouldn’t have surprised
Stephen Marson, professor of sociology
at UNC-Pembroke. He met Compton
two summers ago in a statistics course he
was teaching. Despite her fear of using a
computer, she was an impressively good
student. Marson asked her to be his assistant for the Journal of Social Work Values
and Ethics. “She did a bang-up job,” says
Marson. “She was more mature than
average, with a level of earnestness. She
kept feeling she wasn’t doing enough.”
Compton also helped Marson with other
writing and a research project. “If anyone was stuck with anything, she would
get involved, offer to study together,”
he says. “When I told the students they
needed to form study groups, she was the
first one to do it.”

It was her social worker who suggested that Compton go into the field.
There have been obstacles. In February
2008, her stepmother—who at the time
had been married to Compton’s father
Compton—continued on page 22

The New Social Worker

Summer 2012

3