As I said in All in the Family I am a sexual abuse survivor. At the age of 12, I was abused by a family member. Someone that I trusted. Sexual abuse happens far too often in our country and they never look like predators.
Sexual abuse changes a girls life forever. You are forced to become a woman far too soon. I was abused over the course of 2 months. Sometimes up to 3 times a week. I know I should've told someone the moment it started, but how do you tell that to a scared child?
I spiraled out of control during and after the abuse stopped. I began self-mutilating my body ( Cutting ) and when it finally became too much attempted suicide. In order to be monitored closely I was placed into a
psych hospital. I wasn't even 13 yet.
I hated not being able to do things that normal kids did when I was in the hospital, but it was there that I felt SAFE. I didn't want to die anymore, but every time they told me I was leaving I would tell them that I was suicidal so I wouldn't have to go. Some people would call that institutionalized, but I call that being safe from the man who did this to me.
All these places were short term, so I needed to be somewhere that I could stay longer and the decision was made to put me in a group home called the Waco Center for Youth. This was 400 miles away from home. By this time I was almost 14 years old and been in and out of these hospitals for one year.
Kids were there for so many different reasons; running away from home, behavioral problems, and depression. These kids were like me scared, sad, and wondering what they had done to deserve the kind of lives that they had.
Life was not easy for these kids. Just like it wasn't for me.
To Be Continued...
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