That is kind of how I remember my life starting. My parents married young, had 3 daughters and divorced. We were left with our alcoholic, drug addicted mother to be neglected and abused. My father eventually took custody when he remarried. I was then in a home with a step-brother that molested me. It was then that I developed a fascination with death, or maybe just an overwhelming sense of my own worthlessness. I began to self-mutilate and starve myself. Eventually, I found alcohol and drugs, too. For a while, I was able to keep up appearances. I was even a cheerleader.

When I was thirteen-years-old, my father was killed on the job, electrocuted. When I was fifteen-years-old, my mother died of alcoholism. I was an orphan in the custody of a step-mother that hated me. I was neglected, beaten, and emotionally abused. I was suicidal. I was sixteen when I met the father of my first child. We decided that if I got pregnant, we could leave and make our own home. When I conceived, he left me. My step-mother put me in state’s custody and I was placed at The Florence Crittenton Agency. I was seventeen-years-old, drug addicted, pregnant and without a soul in the world to love me.

I know it’s a hard story to read. It's a hard story to tell. It doesn’t really end there. At FCA, I received treatment for my substance abuse, and so much counseling. They began to undo all the damage that had been done to me over the years. I worked hard on the programs, I had my baby, and I stayed at FCA for three months learning how to take care of her. When I turned 18 and was no longer in state’s custody, I lived in homeless shelters with my baby. I tried so hard to do well, but it was all more than I had the skills to cope with. My daughter was taken by the state when she was fourteen months old. Finally I was diagnosed as bi-polar and got the treatment I needed and an honest recovery. I kept remembering what the staff at FCA told me, that I am worth something.

I am now twenty-years-old, married and attending college. I am also pregnant. Now I attend the pregnancy and parenting classes at FCA on a voluntary basis. I realize how much FCA did for me, and how much they can help ensure my success as a parent, now.

Thank you for supporting The Florence Crittenton Agency, and thank you for helping somebody like me have a place in the world, too.

Sincerely, Suzanne

Thank you for reading this story, I hope you can see how your gift to FCA can really make a difference in the lives of those who need it so badly. Your contribution will help us continue to make this kind of change for others like Suzanne who so desperately deserve it. Please take this opportunity to give a gift of $25, $35, $50 or even $100 to give children a chance for a better life. I thank you for your generosity.