Fost or Fight

I was a foster child. From the Age of 6 to thirteen I never had a place. My dad left when I was 2 so my mom moved out to California. She worked everyday to provide for the two of us, but she became mixed up in drugs and when I was 6 my mother was murdered for being in “drug debt” before I was 11 I was in 14 different foster homes, others better than the last and some worse than all the others. But I was never happy, until I went with the “Johnsons” they were an older couple. They took me in 3 days after my eleventh birthday. It was like a dream come true. They were wealthy and gave me everything I could’ve ever dreamed. On my 12th birthday they asked me if I wanted to me adopted and I said Of Course! About a week later my foster Uncle came into town. He was watching me while my parents went to Coronado for their anniversary. At first he was the best but Saturday night it got weird. He later down with me in bed and started inappropriately touching me. I started crying and he said it would be fun, then proceeded to rape me. I told my foster parents Sunday after he left. They said they would handle it. Monday morning they dropped me off at the police station. I had kept my dirty clothes and the DNA from the and a rape kit charged him for 18 years. I thought I would go back into foster care and I did. But this time it was different. I went home with a police officer who was a foster parent. She and her partner adopted me by my 13th birthday. I now have 5 siblings and loving parents. I wouldn’t change my life or what happened to me because I know I can reach out to kids and help.

— Taylor, age 16