Personal Story: My Life as a Teen Parent in Foster Care

   

I started off as a young sweet girl who just needed security and to feel loved. All I ever really wanted was to be with my mom all the time. I know life for her was hard being a single mom all alone. I enjoyed the little things, like her packing me lunches, doing my hair, taking me to the park, and doing my makeup. Everything was ok for me until 2020 the beginning of COVID when my mom met her boyfriend. I look back and at that time I just started going through puberty, I was a tomboy who was just having fun finding out what I believed in spiritually, doing nails and hair, everything I enjoyed. Then life for me and my mom took a dark turn. My mom’s boyfriend started off sweet and kind to me; he was like the father I never had, then things started to change. He became physically abusive to both me and my mom, including causing me a serious head injury. During this time everything changed. I became ruthless and careless, just not myself, not the sweet little girl I was before. One day my mom sat me on the couch and  asked me if I was sexually active. That's the day I broke down and told her everything that was happening. She rushed over to her phone and called 911 and they came and talked to me and made a report. After about two years, we left: me, my mom, and my baby sister. My mother took me to the hospital to make sure that everything was okay and that's when they told me and my mom I was pregnant. I cried my heart out and I told my mom I was not ready for a baby. She was also pregnant at the time with her third child, my baby brother. I told her I did not want a baby. We went to the abortion clinic to abort but I was too far along. I was so tiny you would not have thought that was true, but I was 6 months pregnant. About a month later,  I had a seizure and I was rushed to the hospital. They did an emergency c-section; my daughter was born premature. I did not have any prenatal care or follow up care, and had been sneaking around and smoking weed. I was so lost; I was in the ICU for weeks while my baby girl was in the NICU. At first I was unsure of what I wanted to do then I decided I wanted to give her up for adoption because I was only 15, but after spending so much time with her I wanted to keep my baby. 

My life has been shaky so far and I'm still on my journey finding out who I am and who I want to be in life. Now I'm in foster care living with different families, and often feel sad, depressed and angry. My  siblings and I are separated, but I still have my daughter. I'm just trying to stay positive and keep going in life. I'm in high school at a school that provides child care and I’m going to be graduating next year. I still see my family through supervised visits; I'm not alone. I'm going to therapy taking meds for my anxiety and depression. They said my mom failed to protect me, but how could she protect what she didn't know? I know my mom tried and now she is a certified caregiver, completed a parenting class, and is just doing whatever it takes to get her kids back. She makes me a better mom. My hope is that my family can be reunified, but while I am in foster care I have a strong support system and a lot of help. Despite everything I went through, my main goal in life now is to protect my daughter, and give her an amazing life that she deserves.

--Anonymous Young Parent