My son’s involvement with the juvenile justice system started withcigarettes. When he was 12 years old, Corey was suspended from school for smoking and having a lighter in his pocket. This suspension was the first of many, all related to smoking. I repeatedly asked the school for help and was repeatedly told they had no help to give.
Near the end of that school year, Corey had his first involvement with police. … Read More
I was a ward of the state of New York from age one until I graduated from high school in 1993. The foster care system saved me because my parents were addicted to drugs and neglected my siblings and me. But it also destroyed me. During my time in foster care, I was in seven different foster homes and two group homes. In five of those homes I experienced physical, sexual and what I … Read More
It is Wednesday, May 3rd, the day before my 21st birthday. I wake upfeeling sad. Something is telling me this is the day—the last morning I will spend with my kids.
It is a typical Florida day, clear blue skies and hot. It seems as if the world around us is moving so fast and we are standing still. I can’t let me kids see how sad I am. I make my … Read More
What does addiction look like? In my life it looked like birthday parties, PTA involvement, regular pediatrician visits, church going, school attendance, and then Mommy’s boyfriend is abusive and Mommy is getting high some nights of the week—that’s what my addiction looked like.
For 15 years I lived a double life. One side of me: The almost perfect mother, daughter and friend. I had a 20-year work history and I owned my own home. … Read More
Child protective services in Denver took my sister’s 12-year-old autistic son from us a little over a year ago. It is terribly painful that our boy is away from us. He needs us and we need him.
CPS opened the case two years before they took my nephew when a doctor called child protective services against us for reasons we have never really understood. For two years, the CPS caseworker left my … Read More
