I'm Sixteen, In Foster Care & With Oppositional Defiant Disorder
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Posted On :
Sep-07-2011
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Article Word Count :
1018
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I’m a 16-year-old High school freshman in the Foster Care system. I refer to my foster parents as grandma and grandpa to keep my Foster Care status a secret. Not to mention, I’ve been in this home for over three years so my story is beginning to sound believable. Why am I so ashamed?
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I’m a 16-year-old High school freshman in the Foster Care system. I refer to my foster parents as grandma and grandpa to keep my Foster Care status a secret. Not to mention, I’ve been in this home for over three years so my story is beginning to sound believable. Why am I so ashamed? Because not having a real mom and dad signifies failure. If it weren’t true, then there would be more television shows with foster families instead of biological families. Even being adopted is placed at a higher regard than being an unwanted, foster care kid. I hope that things stay good between me and my Grandparents so they won’t kick me out. Most foster parents avoid fostering teenagers so if they kick me out, I may have to move into the shelter until another family decide they want to take on a teenager. We’re really not as bad as they make us seem. The most embarrassing part about being moved from one foster home is having to come up with a new lie to explain to my friends.
Why I Run Away
I was removed from my parent’s home due to allegations of sexual abuse. My father would penetrate me with foreign objects to detect if I was sexually active or not. He would then take a picture of it and text this to my mom, to prove how much of a no-none-sense parent he was. Since my mother did nothing about the picture messages she received, they were both charged with abuse. I’m so happy I don’t live with them anymore, but this family is sssoo not like mine. Grandma doesn’t smoke weed like mom does. Grandpa speaks proper and always reminds me how many degrees he has and the importance of finishing high school. In a way I feel like I’m betraying my parents for being with this perfect family. So every now and then, I break curfew and spend the night at my real mom and dad’s house. This is what the dependency system describes as me running away. So in my file, they tell prospective foster parents that I have a history of running away and a history of sexual abuse. If they knew where I was really running away to, mom and dad would be in big trouble. So to put everyone at ease, I find my way back to grandma and grandpa house in time for the new week of school. When I return, they warn me about how I’m running out of chances to stay there. They also remind me of how ungrateful I am because they feed me three meals a day and buy me more clothes than I have ever owned in my life. They are right, but they don’t understand. I make them think that I was out running the streets and partying so that I won’t get mom and dad in trouble. I still don’t understand why those social workers have a problem with me visiting my own parents. I mean, Dad was only trying to make sure I wasn’t growing up to be a whore.
Guys
All the guys in my grade like me. Of course, it’s because I look older and more developed than all the other girls who are in their right grade. But they don’t have their own place like my 20-year-olds so I’m not interested. I don’t want the freshmen boys coming to my house to find out I’m in foster care than spread the news to the entire school. Yes, I am behind in my grade; it’s only because mom kept waking up too late to walk me to school.
Being in the System
Every three months I have to go to these stupid meetings called Treatment Team at one of those mental health agencies. They keep pulling me out of school for these meetings then have the nerve to ask me how I’m doing in school. As much as school bores me, I much rather stay there and feel like a normal kid than to keep going to those meetings with the Therapist, Legal Guardian, Education Attorney and Guardian ad Lietem in my face asking me a bunch of stupid questions. That therapist thinks she knows everything about me. She and the psychiatrist gave me some label called Oppositional Defiant Disorder, but when I typed this word in Google, it sounded like every kid I know. I also looked up that the only reason I have a Mental Health Diagnosis is so that whoever my foster parent is can get paid $1,000 a month instead of $400 for being a “normal” kid. What a bunch of hypocrites! They all claim that teenagers are too much trouble to foster, but take us in anyway if we are diagnosed with more problems. And they wonder why I always walk around with an attitude.
My "Real" Parents
Mom and dad’s parental rights have not been terminated. The social worker is granting them another chance for me to move back home with them. They have to take a few parenting classes and meet some other requirements to show that they are fit parents. I’m only confused about how long it’s taking them to get this done. If they love me like they say they do, why is it taking over three years for me to return home to them? When I ask mom about coming back home, she blames it on the social worker. But, for a change, I actually believe the enemy…the social worker, that mom and dad are not making any effort for me to come back home.
Alone
It’s the end of the school day and I’m on the school bus heading back home. The bus pulls up. Grandma is sitting outside waiting to welcome me home. She’s smiling and waving like those caring mothers on television do. And Ill re-do everything tomorrow with my secret life and made up family.
These and other family issues will be discussed at Let’s Enjoy Being Young! Family Expo.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_I'm Sixteen, In Foster Care & With Oppositional Defiant Disorder_80477.aspx
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Author Resource :
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foster care And
parenting Or
teenager Other
run away
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Keywords :
foster care, parenting, teenager, run away, oppositional defiant disorde, attachment disorder, mental health, foster children,
Category :
Home and Family
:
Parenting
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