What is Child & Family to me? It is a place to call home, it is a place where troubled pasts become beautiful tomorrows, it is where success begins and failure stops, it is where the healing begins, and it is where adolescents like me have a chance to grow in a safe and secure environment.
I was 13 when I was introduced to Child & Family. I began seeing a therapist for abuse and trauma that I had experienced throughout my life. I was placed in a Child & Family group home because of family troubles. At age 18 after graduating from high school, I left my group home and moved into Child & Family’s Independent Living Program.
Thanks to the tools that Child & Family gave me like maintaining and budgeting an savings account, attending school every day, getting good grades, believing in my self-worth and the possibilities available to me, I was able to learn to advocate for myself appropriately. Today I am a successful independent young woman graduating with an associate’s degree and furthering my education at Rhode Island College.
I am grateful for the dedication that Child & Family staff gave me. I was not just a client, I was not just a little girl who had a rough past, I was Theresa, a young girl that needed to feel cared for and needed to feel understood, and that is what Child & Family gave me. They truly care and have compassion for youth in need of structure and guidance.
My siblings Maria, age 16, and my brother Victor, age 14, were placed with Child & Family as well. Honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I know what kind of care kids get at Child & Family and I know that they truly will benefit from the services at Child & Family. For the first time since our mother’s death they began their own healing process and had counseling and other services provided by Child & Family.
