I live in the Highbridge section of the South Bronx and my communityhas the largest number of children being placed into foster care in New York City. I know about the stresses that living in a community like mine can put on a family because my own child was placed in foster care.
For the past three years, I have been a parent organizer for a grassroots organization called the Child Welfare … Read More
Six years ago was the first time that I didn’t have to rush through the holidays with my daughter, who I call Little Mama. After three years in foster care, she was finally home to stay.
Holidays when Little Mama was in foster care were rough. The first year, when Little
Mama was 1 year old, the agency invited my husband and me to a Christmas party. At one moment I had to … Read More
I’ve been depressed since I was a little girl. My mom abused me. She kicked me, banged my head on the wall. At times I lashed out and got hit for that. Mostly I was afraid to speak my mind. But it didn’t matter if I kept quiet or not. She still hit me every day.
I was also depressed and angry because my step-dad molested me. I told my mother what … Read More
I am a 35-year-old mother of two girls, 14 and 10 years old, who have
been paroled to my parents’ care since September 22, 2009. I can visit my children as often as I like but I am no longer allowed to lie down beside them at night and sink into a world of pure innocence, or rise up with them in the morning to feel the warmth of the glowing … Read More
Last October my boyfriend and I had our small wedding ceremony at City Hall. We already had a baby girl, Emma, and I was close to delivering number two. My mother came to stay with us for the weekend, and at one point she went out to the store and didn’t return until about three hours later. It was clear that she’d been drinking, and I could smell the booze on her breath.
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