“I sat my two children down and we had a conversation about foster care. I told them, ‘It will be hard to love on a baby and then have to say goodbye.’ They were both in.”
‘My husband decided to leave. ‘You won’t get a newborn because you’re single.’ I listened to the heartbreaking situations.’: Woman becomes foster mama after divorce, ‘My life is full of beauty’
‘PROMISE you won’t end up like me. I want you to be more.’ I was bewildered by her words. They would change my life.’: Daughter of immigrants is first to graduate college, ‘YOU have the power’
“‘I’m afraid I won’t learn how to read.’ They decided to put me in special education classes despite not having a learning disability. I even googled ‘how to make it to college,’ but was still lost. I was on my own.”
‘The police came, and my mother hid my brother. ‘Where is he?’ I couldn’t leave. I had to protect them.’: Woman survives abuse, abandonment as she helps raise 4 special needs siblings
“My step-father would hide food and I wasn’t allowed to sit with them. Then I got pregnant at 17. I had to run and hide wherever I found a good place, and sometimes it was too late. I had to protect my brothers.”
‘I shouted, ‘Help my mom! She can’t breathe!’ I saw a priest coming toward me, this was either a dream or we were dead.’
“I remember whispering, ‘Don’t leave me.’ She barely whispered in Vietnamese, ‘I can’t breathe.'”
