SHORT STORY

What does a possible day look like for a child in foster care?

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Author’s Note:

    Kennedy’s story represents how the foster care system has many abuses in it. The children in foster care can suffer abuse in and outside of the system. The home Kennedy was placed in wasn’t the most fortunate of homes. The state didn’t provide enough for them, and lacked enough resources to properly run the house. A study testing the abuses within foster care showed that “42 children were physically abused, 76 were sexually abused, and 15 experienced both forms of abuse” (Hobbes). Kennedy was saved from her previous family’s drug abuse and neglect, but she went under sexual abuse from another member in her foster home. She was not believed and then taken again from another place that she called home. She could have been placed somewhere even worse and more abusive, and she could have not gotten the proper help she needs to process her trauma to help her work through possible mental illnesses that many people work through when being placed in the system. Kennedy’s story provides a small amount of hope for how children can get lucky or not. Children who happen to be sexual abused within foster care tend to actually be able to have positive trajectories and “were significantly more certain of their educational plans and optimistic about their future and had more positive peer influences” (Emond). The foster care system should not be left to a game of luck, but should constantly be providing and setting kids up for a safe and successful future. Many foster parents are working for the betterment of children and do want to help kids have a better future. Many foster parents foster kids because they might not be able to have their own kids, which makes them truly see the foster child as their own. People who are willing to foster kids for the right reasons have large hearts and have so much love to give to kids in this world. 

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Kennedy woke up as the sun began to rise, and she shuffled her feet beneath the itchy sheets. She lifted the rough comforter off of her and slid out of the twin sized bed quietly in hopes of not waking her roommate. She wasn’t very close to her roommate. She knew her name was Ava, and that they both shared the same experience of being a foster kid. Even though they both were foster kids, the story of how they ended up there differers.

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Kennedy was about seven years old when she woke up to the screams and cries of her mother. She walked into the room that both her mother and father shared staring at the shocked face her mother wore. Her father laid limp and cold on the bed with a needle of the common drugs the parents both used to take sticking out of his arm. Kennedy ran to the house phone and dialed 911. EMS arrived into the house with police and a social service officer following behind. They pronounced her father dead due to an overdose, and the mother was sat down for questioning. The social service officer took Kennedy away to sit down and discuss the situation that had just occurred. The police searched the house and discovered a drug lab where the parents produced different kinds of drugs. Kennedy had been exposed to these drugs for the majority of her life not even knowing what a drug was. Kennedy had been taken away from her living mother who was facing most of her life in jail. Kennedy was one of the more unfortunate cases having no one else left to take her in. She was placed in a foster home for many children called Love for the Lost. She was forced to share a room with Ava, and forced to try and grow up like a normal child even though nothing in her life was normal.

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Kennedy slipped into the bathroom that many of the girls in the house shared. She washed her face and headed downstairs to the shared kitchen. Kennedy was one of the only people in the house that woke up early. She appreciated her alone time and appreciated being distant from the rest of the house. She didn’t accept this life or want this to be her future. Kennedy had been working extremely hard in school and hoped to get into a good college. As she was sitting on the porch of the house, one of the owners of the house, Ms. Smith, came out to sit with her. Kennedy smiled a slight smirk knowing that Ms. Smith was about to ask her what she wanted for breakfast. Ms. Smith became Kennedy’s safe space at the house and became her mother figure. Ms. Smith saw so much potential in Kennedy and really valued her and her story. Kennedy only opened up to Ms. Smith and really isolated herself from the rest of the house. 

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As the rest of the house woke up and came down the stairs, Kennedy went back into her room to study and do artwork. Kennedy was very good at her artwork and loved to line her walls with the different paintings and pictures she drew. Kennedy loved to stay in her room and preferred to be isolated from the rest of the group home. Joey, one of the boys in the group home, was not someone that Kennedy liked around. Kennedy and Joey tended to be polar opposites on some opinions and loved to butt heads. At the home, the kids were required to do therapy circles and talk about the shared experience they were all going through. Therapy was rarely provided for the kids in the home unless it was emergent care. The state tended to pay the home the bare minimum to live off of. The children knew that their resources were limited, and that added to their fears for their future. Kennedy spent most of her day working on school and planning for a possible future if she was granted the opportunity for. Because of her strengths in learning, she helped to toutore the younger kids in the house to give Ms. Smith and Ms. Jones help. 

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After the day had finished, Kennedy helped the younger kids into bed like she always did and went to bed like she normally did. Kennedy took a long time to fall asleep most nights. Ava was a deep sleeper and barely woke up to much noise, which let Kennedy sneak out to get her usual late night snack of milk and cookies. Kennedy slowly turned the door knob and eased the door shut behind her. She walked slowly and carefully down the creaky stairs in a pattern that made the least amount of noise. Once she reached the pantry, she slid the plastic out of the box and carefully tried to not crinkle the bag. She grabbed two cookies and headed to the stainless steel fridge which hid her nightly fingerprints. She grabbed the carton of milk and opened the cabinet beside her and grabbed a medium sized glass. She poured the milk into the glass and closed the fridge back. While she was eating, she heard a slight creek from the stairwell. She squatted down behind the island in case one of the house heads was coming down. She peered over the countertop and saw the glazed eyes of Joey peering around the corner of the kitchen entrance. 

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Kennedy stood up annoyed at Joey’s clear intoxication as he stumbled over to the island. Joey snatched a cookie from the napkin and ate it with pleasure on his face. Kennedy, frustrated with Joey’s immaturity, started to clean up her snack. As she went to grab and put away the milk glass, Joey held a firm grip on her forearm that Kennedy wasn’t able to release. As Kennedy opened her mouth to speak, Joey placed a singular finger over her lips to silence her. He shoved her face into the countertop, and as her muscles grew tired from her struggle, she simply closed her eyes and accepted fate. Joey was stronger than her, and she was unable to control his actions.

Kennedy opened her eyes and felt cold milk on her face and as she placed her hand to lift up, she felt a sharp pain in her palm. As she became more awake, she saw slight red blood coming out of her hand. Tears silently started to drain from her eyes, and she cleaned up the large mess that was created. As the sun began to rise, she tiptoed back into her room and felt some kind of comfort from the itchy sheets. Ms. Smith was shocked to not see Kennedy out on the porch as she woke up that morning. Ms. Smith lightly knocked on the door of Kennedy’s room after Ava had come downstairs for breakfast. Kennedy laid awake with her eyes wide open staring at her walls of art. Ms. Smith sat down at the end of the small twin bed in silence, laying her hand down on Kennedy’s feet. Kennedy gazed her watery eyes up towards Ms. Smith and simply stated that she was overly tired today. Ms. Smith with sympathetic eyes lifted the covers off of Kennedy and walked her down the stairs to breakfast. Kennedy took each step with pain and used the sleeves of her sweatshirt to cover her cut hand. 

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Once she was downstairs, Kennedy searched the room as she got down the stairs for the person she most despised in the home. Her gaze met Joey’s and she immediately darted to the otherside of the room away from where he was standing. Ms. Smith brought over a simple breakfast of cereal for her to eat, and with each bite, Kennedy worked to try and feel some kind of normal in herself again. After eating, Kennedy went to shower in the hopes of cleansing herself from what she had endured. Kennedy wanted to get back to feeling normal. She continued her day as she normally would by working on her schoolwork and helping around the house as much as possible. This day, she was extremely silent in the therapy circle, and did her best to stay to herself. Ms. Smith thought nothing of this behavior because she knew Kennedy was a quiet girl and didn’t worry about her silence. Kennedy’s silence kept a barrier around her, so in that moment, she was working to make a stronger barrier around herself. 

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Kennedy loved the home she was in. She loved the owners and the young kids, and she liked feeling wanted and needed in the home. She finally felt like she started to belong in a place. She didn’t want to let Joey take that away from her, but something needed to be done about him. What if she wasn’t the only one, or what if there would be more girls after her? After helping the young kids into bed and after getting ready for bed herself, she knocked slightly on Ms. Smith’s door in hopes of her being able to respond. Ms. Smith cracked the door open and smiled while recognizing Kennedy’s face in the light. Ms. Smith welcomed her into her room and she sat on the end of the bed. Ms. Smith sat in a chair across from Kennedy and asked what should have been a simple question for Kennedy to answer: What was wrong? Kennedy zoned out staring at the lamp shade when Ms. Smith repeated her question. A singular tear slid down Kennedy’s cheek. Joey, Kennedy thought. Kennedy wasn’t able to simply just say his name. Kennedy froze and softly stated that nothing was wrong. Kennedy slowly stood not leaving the gaze of Ms. Smith and walked quickly out of her room. Kennedy climbed into bed and started to cry. Ava came back from the bathroom and heard the small whimpers from across the room. Ava walked across the forbidden line in the middle of the room and hugged Kennedy. Kennedy asked Ava to stay with her until she fell asleep, and as the sun began to rise once again. Kennedy felt the warmth of Ava who never left her side. 

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Kennedy started her morning like she normally would and immediately returned to her room to do artwork. She drew numerous pictures of oceans and used all kinds of different colors. She loved the water. She wanted to live near the water and be at the water so badly. Kennedy decided to pack a small bag and go to her favorite place. Kennedy left when she heard the house was silent and left Ava a thank you note. Ava knew Kennedy loved the ocean and saw the many drawings she made. As Ava woke up in the middle of the night to the empty bed across from her and the missing backpack from the chair, she knew Kennedy had left. Kennedy walked for quite a while. She started to hear the crashing of the waves and heard the whistling of the wind. It reminds her of her life. The crashing of the waves that continued to come into her life. They crashed over and over again to the point where she found it hard to catch her breath. The crushed shells dug into her feet as she hit the sand. She sat her bag down and headed towards the water. She sat in the damp sand and let the water rush up her legs. The water burned the cut in her hand. She stood up, her shorts and long shirt clinging to her skin and turned around to the distant sound she heard calling her name. She knew it was Ava. Ava was the only person who was so close to Kennedy yet so far. Ava knew what Kennedy wanted her to know, but never knew who Kennedy was as a complete person. 

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Kennedy shouted back to Ava as she saw her black shadow come over the dune. The moonlight slightly shone on both their faces as they met each other in the middle of the beach. Kennedy looked down at her feet, unable to handle the awkwardness between them. Ava started the conversation that would change lives forever by asking what Kennedy was doing. Kennedy’s throat started to close and she knew she needed to talk to someone, she knew she needed to open up about all the baggage she had been carrying the past few days. Ava sat down on the beach, mouth wide open, shocked at all the words she had just heard. Kennedy spoke honestly, and Ava listened attentively. Kennedy said she wanted to stay at the beach until the morning as Ava silently turned around and left. Ava had no idea what to do with this information. She was shocked and confused. Ava told Ms. Smith when she returned to the house and saw her on the porch. Ms. Smith loved Kennedy, but always knew that her and Joey butted heads. Ms. Smith pulled Joey aside to talk about the serious matter that was being spoken about. Joey stated that there was no reason that Kennedy made this up except for the fact she didn’t like him. Joey stated the fact that if he had done what Kennedy said he did, there would have been a mess. Ms. Smith had no facts or evidence to support what Kennedy had said, and from Ms. Smith’s perspective Kennedy had been acting perfectly normal. Kennedy arrived back at the house after seeing the sunrise and walked into an overly silent room where a table stood housing the people who would decide her future.

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At the table, Ms. Smith, Ms. Jones, Joey, and Ava sat each with a different look on their faces. Ms. Smith looked concerned, Ms. Jones looked slightly angry, Joey looked almost happy with a devilish smirk on his face, and Ava looked so scared. Kennedy dropped her bag at her feet, and simultaneously, the social worker whose face has been forever ingrained in Kennedy's brian from age seven walked through the door. Kennedy looked at Ms. Smith, the person who had been her rock and protector ever since she had lost everything that was known to her. Ms. Smith gave a simple nod. Kennedy knew that she had just lost the family and place that had been the safest space for her. Kennedy picked up her bag that she had just placed down, looked the social worker dead in the eyes, and left the house. She climbed into the passenger's seat of the car. The car’s tires began to roll and turned what used to be a clear picture of the world into a blurry vision of what the future would be. 

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Kennedy was taken to a nice house with two people standing out on the porch. A dalmatian lay at their feet, and a smile crossed both their faces as they met the eyes of Kennedy. When the car came to a jolted stop and was placed in park, Kennedy got out of the car and slammed the door shut. She left behind her bag and let go of everything that used to be in her past. Kennedy has constantly wanted to move forward, and she used this as her moment to blossom. She wanted to stop the waves from constantly crashing on her beach. She wanted to create her silent ocean. She accepted these parents as her own and became immediately friends with the dog. Kennedy was finishing her schooling in the hopes of going to college. The bond she made with her new home was a parental bond and provided more safety than she could ever have hoped for. She was able to receive the proper therapy to help her place her past in the past. Kennedy was adopted by her new family and had been so happy by the future she was given. One of the worst things that could have ever happened to her turned her life into the best possible outcome a foster child could receive. Kennedy was given the opportunity to have a family and go to college. The foster system was both broken and fixed for Kennedy. It failed to protect her, but at the same time she received the best life she could have been given. Kennedy was lucky, but not all foster kids end up that way. 

Bibliography

Edmond, Tonya PhD, Dr. Wendy Auslander PhD, Dr. Diane Elze PhD & Sharon 

Bowland (2006) Signs of Resilience in Sexually Abused Adolescent Girls in the Foster Care System, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15:1, 1-28, DOI: 10.1300/J070v15n01_01

Hobbs, Georgina F., Christopher J. Hobbs, Jane M. Wynne, Abuse of children in foster and 

residential care, Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 23, Issue 12, 1999, Pages 1239-1252, ISSN 0145-2134, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00096-4.

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