The mother of seven adopted children and grandmother to 22, Dottie Mullikin knows what it takes to raise a child. As newly-appointed executive director of Springfield nonprofit Isabel’s House, Mullikin hopes to pass her knowledge on to the next generation.
“At times it’s been tough, but my kids have taught me more than I could have ever hoped to learn,” she says. “When these moms walk through our doors feeling like there is no hope, they can look me in the eye and they understand I know where they’re coming from. I understand their pain and my knowledge didn’t just come from theory. When you talk heart to heart with someone, you gain a different kind of understanding.”
Executive director of the Junior League of Springfield children’s crisis nursery since September 2012, Mullikin says she accepted the job after her retirement plans took a detour.
“My husband and I are now raising two of our grandchildren, so our retirement plans got put on hold for right now,” she says. “I was called to Isabel’s House, because God knows I can be of use here. When I took the job, my husband said he would cook, clean and support me however he could with one stipulation – I can’t bring home any more kids.”
An Ozarks native, Mullikin attended college and worked in the Boston area before purchasing 40 acres north of Springfield and returning home to raise her family.
Mullikin advocated for child abuse prevention and awareness early in her career, founding the Child Advocacy Center and the Springfield R-12 Drug-Free School and Community Advisory Council and working with Ozarks Fights Back and the Community Partnership of the Ozarks.
“I was unhappy with us as a community that would tolerate child abuse,” she says. “It has begun to get better and has seen more awareness during the years, but the community is easily distracted by other things. We have to take it one child at a time, one face at a time and sometimes, one inch at a time.”
As an inaugural appointee on the Mayor’s Commission for Children, Mullikin believes Isabel’s House exists not only to help children in need, but also to give families hope.
“These are not bad people, they have just had a lot of bad luck,” she says. “Part of my job is to find that place within them and keep the spark of hope alive.”
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