A Parent’s Road to Recovery
This story originally appeared in Rise, a magazine written by parents involved in the child welfare system. When my daughter Rosemarie was 5 years old, she told me that her father was sexually molesting her when she went on weekend visits. As soon as she told me, I took Rosemarie to the hospital, got the […]
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I Had to Dig Up My Buried Emotions to Save My Life
Names have been changed. Emotions are very powerful and they should be respected, not ignored. I learned this lesson the hard way. When I was in high school I was placed in a group home. I didn’t know the real reason why I was removed from my parents. All I knew was that being separated […]
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Mom Wasn’t Ready for Me
My mom was only 16 when she had me, her first child. By the time she was 23, she had three little girls. I don’t think she was ready for any of us. She needed more time to deal with the problems she herself had while growing up. She didn’t need the lives of three […]
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Why I Always Use a Condom
It was raining outside and our plans were squashed. My girlfriend Kimberly and I had nothing to do. “Let’s watch some TV,” she said to me, but I had other plans. Little did I know they would lead to my biggest mistake. We were alone in her house on that fall day five years ago. […]
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