MyStory Part 1 (Written By Carole Turner)

Chris was only twelve years old when he tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists. Life was just too heavy a load to carry. His single mother worked all the time, she had three jobs. She was never at home, but his older, mentally impaired sister needed to be cared for so that job fell on Chris. There was no father; he had left when Chris was a baby. There had briefly been a violent step father for a couple years when Chris was younger, but one day he abruptly left and took Chris’s baby brother. So now Chris was left to take care of the house and his sister while his mother worked all day and all night. Chris also worked hard making good grades. There was no going outside to play, not in the neighborhood they lived in, and there was only work inside or sitting in front of the TV. When you are a child that has already had a life time of responsibilities and you are neglected by your only parent, it just becomes too much to bare and that is why at age 12, death looked better to Chris then living this life.

After his suicide attempt he was sent to a mental facility and in Chris’s mind, it was actually pretty decent there. Finally he was getting some nice, calm, positive attention, what he had always hungered for at home but never got. While at the mental hospital he started feeling better about living. The medication they gave him helped too.

After Chris came home his mom went to counseling, stayed home more with Chris and his sister and even enrolled Chris in the Big Brother program. But it was all short lived. She quickly went back to working three jobs, the “Big brother” quit and Chris went back to being stuck in side watching TV, cleaning, doing homework and being the care giver to his sister and his mom. In his heart he was bursting with frustration and a need for positive attention. He would settle for any attention and any outlet for his pain. So at thirteen he started doing drugs, drinking and fighting.

An appointment was set for Chris and his mother with a state appointed Social worker. When they arrived at the appointment, Chris sat down in the counselor’s office, his mother said she needed to go to the restroom and would be right back. She walked out of the office and never returned. The counselor eventually called her and she told him she could not parent Chris anymore. She wanted the state to take him. She gave Chris up for adoption that day. He was 13 years old.

Chris immediately went into foster care and was placed in the home of a wonderful couple, David and Lisa. They had no other children and to them, Chris was a dream come true. He was finally getting positive attention. He was receiving regular counseling, His grades were great, He played sports and David was at every practice and game. Chris finally felt like he was in a real family and he was flourishing.

Sadly this dream was not to last. After only 10 months with David and Lisa the state informed them that Chris’s biological father wanted Chris to come live with him so they were sending him to his father in Florida. Chris was devastated. So were David and Lisa. Chris had wanted to stay with David and Lisa forever. He loved them, they loved him but now he was being forced to go live with a father who was a stranger. On arrival in Florida, Chris discovered that his father was an alcoholic. He immediately started running away, stealing, and doing anything he could to get away from this new environment. His father had no idea how to deal with this wild teenage boy of his. He placed Chris in a horrible detention center for juvenile criminals for two weeks but even that didn’t detour his behavior. After only a couple months, his father conceded and sent him back to state care in Virginia.

At this time Chris was 14 years old. He was lost in grief, loneliness, anger, depression and complete despair. But hope was on it’s way...