Email me! janettee69@yahoo.com

Abuse Within The System: Help Stop The Cycle

Our Mission

At least once a year there is a story in the news about foster children being abused... Not by their parents or gaurdians, but by foster parents or staff in state-run facilities. And at least once a year there is a story about foster children being killed by such abuse. Several of the Nation's missing children are actually foster children who have run to the streets to escape abusive foster care placements. Now that the Department Of Human Services is getting budget cuts, the children need help more than ever.

For Info On DHS, Go To: www.os.dhhs.org For Child Abuse Statistics, Go To: www.jimhopper.com/abstats www.acf.dhhs.gov To Help Prevent Child Abuse, Go To: www.preventchildabuse.org www.nationalcasa.org www.yesican.org

To gain enough support to get the Child Welfare workers to change background check procedures and help the children stay safe and loved.

I was taken from my parents when I was 6, and went from home to home until I was 18 years old. When I was 7, I was molested by a foster parent. Then I went to live with a really nice Christian family. It wasn't until I was a lot older that I realized that even though they were nice when I was good and they were Christian, they were still abusing me, because they would put the foster kids in a large cardboard box when we were bad. Then I went to an even nicer foster home that was Pentecostal. They had very strict rules, but they were nice. Then they had to move out-of-state, and I was not allowed to go with them. They would have adopted me, had it not been for that. Then I went to live on a farm, with a nice lady who I later sortof "adopted" as my mom. I spend holidays with her, and any other times I can. But then my birth dad got sick, and I was not even informed of his illness until a few days before his funeral. I have always blamed DHS that I did not get to say goodbye to him. I was moved around several times after that. When I was 14 years old I was beaten by my foster parents' daughter-in-law. Then I was raped in another foster home, and nothing was done about it because my caseworker said I was racist, that I said it because both the boys were black and I am white. (She was also black.) They did not investigate the rape until two years later. I was sent to a group home because my caseworker said that I was a troublemaker. At the group home I had to protect myself every day because the other girls were really violent. One was even arrested at the group home for attempting to stab another girl with a knife. The group home was in a really bad section of town known for drugs, gangs, and violence. Our bus stop was a site for several drive-bys. One night we had to call the police because one of the girls knew a guy who had killed someone while stealing a car. When she told on him, he threatened to kill everyone in the group home. To get away from all this, when I was 16, I ran away to go live with my boyfriend. I was sent to live with my "mom". However, she could not take care of me, an 11-year-old, her mother, and a 4-year-old, so I had to go. I went to several schools, and was sent to several "day treatment centers", which are basically mental institutions that you only go to for school. I am 19 right now, and I am still attending high school because I got so far behind by moving around so much. I have a minimum-wage job and no skills other than what I learned in high school. I have been living on my own for nearly two years now, and I have lived in six different apartments and have even been homeless.  I am in debt because I had no one available to help me learn how to get credit, or manage money. I do not have my license because I was never taught how to drive. I am not wanting to ache and bellymoan... I only wish to use my story as a means for people unfamiliar with how the system works to see what current foster children are facing right now and will face in the future. I will not let myself become a statistic, but most of the "aging-out" foster children will either go to jail, become homeless, or go on welfare, unless they are  lucky enough or hard-working enough to be successful.