“We went from talking almost every night to talking almost every month. ‘Shelainea, you need to tell your mom.’ The divorce took a toll. She changed for the worst. ‘You shouldn’t be going through my phone!’ I couldn’t believe she was doing this to me.”
‘Where are you right now? If you’re still there, you need to get out! You need to tell your mom.’: Woman finds happiness after years of abuse, neglect
‘Are you willing to foster a teen?’ I was 19, male. I didn’t think I’d be taken seriously.’: Man who grew up in foster care adopts 3 children, ‘I want them to grow up loved’
“At 19, I moved into my own place and worked like a dog. I felt unfulfilled, but wasn’t sure what I was missing. One day, I picked up an employment newsletter. There it was. ‘Become a Foster Parent Today. Must be 18.’ A month later, I got a call asking to take in a 7-year-old boy. Imagine my surprise to see a white child waiting for me at the supermarket! I was internally panicking. I’d never interacted with a white child before and had no clue how to care for one!”
‘My father sent me out for cigarettes. I decided to run away. I needed to find a place he’d never find me.’: Man rescued from abusive family, returns favor by fostering children in need
“After a year of living on the street, strangers approached me and said, ‘We want to take you to school.’ Coming from an abusive household, I had never really learned to trust. I said yes, not really sure what I was agreeing to. I had no home, hope, future, and they gave me all of that and more. I knew I wanted to do the same for other kids.”
‘I stole my boyfriend’s debit card and cleared out all his savings. My mistakes have made me who I am today.’: After losing love of her life, child trauma survivor overcomes kleptomania addiction
“I bought myself a plane ticket and flew across the country. The second I got on that plane, I knew I could never speak to him again. It was wrong, but I felt on top of the world.”
‘These people were our ‘friends.’ I couldn’t wrap my head around someone wanting to hurt my son.’: Daycare teacher’s husband abuses little boy, mom says she’s ‘extremely grateful’ her son ‘lived’
“I thought I’d pop in and check on my son. My child is a happy child and lights up when he sees me. I got there and he was asleep on the couch. I tried waking him up and he would barely open his eyes. knew something was wrong. When I began examining his head, I noticed it was swollen. Richard said my son fell off a rocking chair, but that my son was ‘acting fine’ so he didn’t call me.”
