“I prayed every night I’d find someone to love my daughters as their own. I just wanted them to have a daddy. Out of curiosity, I signed up for a dating site, but didn’t do much with it. The last day of my free trial, I found a picture of a man and a beautiful little boy. Something about talking to him just felt right. Like all the horrible things that happened to me had been wiped away. The hard times brought us together.”
‘I was divorced, he was divorced. There wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. It was there, in each other.’: Mom re-marries after ’emotionally abusive’ relationship, now ‘beautifully blended family’
‘I discovered cocaine in my mom’s purse while we were shopping. She had it hidden in a mint case along with a razor blade and a straw. Then she married her drug dealer.’
“She stayed with him because he was always ‘sorry.’ He ‘never meant to hurt her.'”
‘He shook her violently and put her in the tub. There were bruises on her little body. He thought she was dead.’: Woman works to pass child abuse bill after granddaughter survives shaken baby syndrome
“My son-in-law called, saying Miley was choking and had stopped breathing. I dropped the phone and drove to the house where I found him standing in the doorway, holding a lifeless baby. I noticed bruising on her chin. I knew right away her father had hurt her badly. She had a 20% chance of survival.”
‘This is a little girl who was sexually abused. She grew up to be a woman. She is me.’
“She struggled to be intimate. She struggled with depression and anxiety. With pelvic pain. She flinched from touch, but so desperately wanted to give it all.”
‘I was punched in the face by a man who claimed to ‘love me so much.’ Then he said, ‘Now I’m going to call my mom to let her finish the job.’: Woman’s son survives shaken baby syndrome, ‘He is a survivor for a reason’
“He said, ‘Something is wrong with Wyatt.’ I open the shower curtain and see him holding my son out. I thought his neck was broken.”
‘I was just raped thousands of miles away from home as a 15-year-old, and I was scared.’
“I kept quiet about the incident out of sheer terror. Raising a girl is so terrifying when you’ve seen the ugliest parts of what being a girl has to offer at times.”
‘We received a call that a sibling set of 4 kids needed a foster home. Our initial reaction was ‘Four kids at one time!?’’
“That’s when the lady broke heart-wrenching news to my wife.”
‘Want drugs?’ My bio dad, just released from prison, sat me on the toilet and injected meth into my arm.’: After surviving child abuse, living in 40 foster homes, man finds ‘home’ in his kids’ arms
“I was usually good at hiding my bruises, but one day I didn’t do a very good job. ‘How did this happen?!’ my teacher asked. I told her it was from carrying firewood. Minutes after I got home, there was a man in a tan suit at my door. CPS. The beginning of my journey across 40 foster homes. I feel so lucky to have beaten the odds. Not for me, but for my sons. I’d go through my childhood 1,000 times if it meant my sons didn’t have to.”
I knew what abusive relationships looked like, this wasn’t it. It took me months to break free from this ‘amazing perfect guy.’
“When I left the library, I had 86 messages. All from my amazing, perfect boyfriend. The charming guy who accused me of cheating. As I left, I could feel someone watching me.”
‘He is a great guy, a great husband and father. How could he have done this!?’ It’s because he did it when no one was looking.’: Domestic violence survivor speaks out
“I have LIVED this. When I left, everybody was surprised. This is going to sting – not just a little. But a lot. The man you love… Does he call you a b*tch? A whore? That’s not love.”
