I Trusted Him

I was 11 when it first started, just about to start 6th grade. I would come home from school, put my stuff down and go tell him I was home. He would be happy, guide me to his room and undress me. I would hit him and bite him but he didn’t care. He said it was normal and that all fathers suck their children’s breasts and touch their child’s vagina. I was scared and I would tell him I was going to tell my mom and he told me that no one would believe me. So of course I just kept to myself and put up with it. I felt disgusting every single day. I looked forward to the weekends because I knew my mom was home and it wouldn’t happen then. He would bribe me or say I wouldn’t be able to get certain things if I didn’t do as I was told. On multiple occasions he has me grab his penis, and I would cry. This occurred until I was 14 years old, and going to be a freshman in a few short months. My mom and him had gotten into a hug e fight and she kicked him out and that’s when I told her, tears running down my face, I was truly terrified of what she would think of me. I always thought it was my fault. She called the police the next morning and immediately a case had opened. They made me call him and he had confessed that he did sexually abuse me, but in the state of Kansas that apparently wasn’t enough to charge him or even register him as a sex offender. The best they could do was file a restraining order. I’m happy with that but I still need closure. I’m 16 years old and no longer live in Kansas and I think about the abuse everyday, I’m strong but I still believe there needs to be justice. I trusted that man, the man I truly believed was my father.

— Destiny Stetson, age 16