Biography

I was placed in foster care at age four, because my birthmother was an alcoholic and prone to unhealthy relationships. While in foster care I was moved eleven times, and by the time I was adopted when I was nine, I had developed RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) and quite a few other unhealthy habits. I could not care about people.

It was a huge deal when I began to feel emotions, I recall when I first felt satisfied, only two years ago. It was fleeting, but then it started to last longer and longer. Other emotions followed. Slowly I began to care about other people. I can remember when I felt compassion for the time. It was when I heard tht Hurricane Katrina had hit New Orleans. I was inspired to do something, and I started a fundraiser at my school, selling Mardi Gras beads. We donated the money to the Red Cross in New Orleans.

I am now fourteen, and it has taken the majority of the past five years, and being hospitalize to work through my issues. And my issues still come up. However, as a much improved and healthy teenager, I am on a mission to help other children who have had similar experiences. I have spoken to a group of hospitalized children at a residential treatment center. I have sat in on a family therapy session, offering up details about my personel experiences, and sharing lessons learned. My adoptive mother is a therapist, and I find myself frequently doing community service when she asks me about my past experiences. She'll ask me how this or that felt and why I did what I did. I know that she takes my answers seriously, and she might even share them with her clients. I always try to be as detailed and thorough as I can.

Right now I feel like the best thing I can do is to continue doing working on my issues. How can I give advice or lecture someone if I don't practice healthy behaviors? How can I give someone an honest answer about working on a particular issue, if I don't know from experience? And who knows, maybe I'll be a therapist when I grow up!