I’m seventeen years old. I’ve been in foster care on and off since I was seven. Here is my story.
I remember the day that I met Kevin. I was almost four years old. It was a bright, cloudless sunny day. The van from preschool dropped me off at home like usual, and I went upstairs to our apartment. As I walked in I saw a strange man sitting on our black and white checkered sofa. I could hear my sister crying in the background as I looked at this strange man. My mom brought my baby sister out of her room and was feeding her a bottle. She looked at me and said, “Hi hunnie how was your day? This is Kevin, he is a truck driver.” I remember not liking him very much. He was a big tall guy with big glasses and a balding head.
After that day I remember Kevin coming over quite often. Whenever he would come through Fargo he would stay for awhile, and would always bring my sister and I presents.
When I was six we all took a trip from Fargo to Williston to see his son march in a parade. That was the first time I met David and Jon. David was ten and Jon was eight. I wasn’t really too fond of them and they weren’t too fond of me. After that they came to our apartment to stay every now and

We moved into a house about two months after that. It was a big house close to the elementary school that I was going to. Kevin started to me a lot. He always told me that I was a very bad kid. I started to feel that way too. I would was in second grade, and I tried to stay away from everyone, so I didn’t have any friends. It didn’t help my situation out much that I was a very plump child and had to wear glasses.

I spent a lot of time at her house when Kevin came home. He always demanded fresh cooked meals of mashed potatoes, a vegetable, a meat, and milk. Then I had to do the dishes when the meal was over. If I didn’t get them done fast enough he would yell at me. My mom tried to protect me, but she couldn’t stand up to him very often. When she did all hell broke loose.

Towards the end of second grade, I was getting detention everyday. I guess I talked a lot. I had made a best friend, and the good thing was that she lived right across the street from me.

I was then placed in a Luther Hall which is a residential group home facility. I really liked it there. You didn’t have to connect with anybody, and after being kicked out of two foster homes where I called the people my family, I had a slight attachment disorder. I was there for exactly seven months.