Children's Rights: Silent Voices

I was so little that I didn't
understand what was going on.

They just came to
my house one day,

and then they told my mom that
they're going to take us away.

If I didn't have her,
I would be all alone.

You feel like you're
all alone in the world.

That really hurts.

I remember he was
being taken away.

I was crying.

I felt deprived.

I didn't know anybody else.

I dreamed about having a family.

She kept me alive.

Nobody cared.

I felt like I was helpless.

Knowing that you
have nowhere to go.

I felt really hopeless.

I don't like talking about it.

Hey, I know this is hard.

I don't like talking
about my past.

I know.

I know.

The minute that he
even thinks that, he

has to think about what
happened to him in the past

and how different that is
from what he experiences now

in my family, he falls apart.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I never knew why I was
put in foster care.

I felt like it was my fault when
I was so little that I didn't

understand what was going on.

I was only like four or five
years old, and I felt deprived.

They took me from my mom.

They just came to
my house one day,

and then they told my mom that
they were going to take us away.

All I remember was being taken
away and putting into shelters.

Imagine being a
six-year-old child,

being woken up in the
middle of the night,

being ripped from the
only home they know,

being put in the back
of a police vehicle,

and being brought to an office.

All of their life as they know
it has completely crumbled.

And then in the middle of the
night, they get picked up again,

and they get moved again.

Christopher was in five
different foster placements

before he moved into my home.

I've been placed
too many places.

I'd say over 20-- well, over 20.

I didn't know where
I was going to go.

I was tossed home to
home all the time.

I couldn't concentrate
right because I was always

moving around.

So it was either having
a different school

or studying something different
in each place that I went to.

What's the point of
me doing homework?

I don't know if I'm still
going to be here tomorrow.

I'm probably going
to be somewhere

else or in another house.

Moving from place to place,
never having an adult

that they can rely on.

What happens to these kids is
unimaginable psychological abuse

that kills these
kids day by day.

Oh, man.

Knowing that you have nowhere
to go, that really hurts.

You know what I'm saying?

Feeling like you're
all alone in the world.

When I was in foster care,
I used to sit in my room

and just stay there all day.

There are over 500,000 children
in foster care in this country.

And those children
who've already

been abused and neglected
and are traumatized already

by just being removed
from their homes

are being traumatized every
day by the systems that

are mandated to protect them.

I remember my very
first foster home.

She had these two big dogs.

And whenever I do
something wrong,

she'd sit me in the middle of
them and let them growl at me.

I was abused in the shower.

My head put down the toilet.

They put hot peppers
in my mouth and soap.

So actually, I don't like hot
things anymore because of that.

I was given three grocery
bags full of medicine

when he was discharged,
and I realized

that no child should be on
this amount of medication

if it's really not necessary.

And I questioned whether it
was really, truly necessary.

If I were in direct
conversation with a child that

had gone through
multiple abuse, I'd

want to apologize
in ways or in terms

that the child would understand
because the system has

failed that child.

We put them in that place
that's supposed to be safe,

where they're raped,
where they're brutalized,

where they're physically
damaged, emotionally damaged,

and then we want to return
them back to their parents.

Or they languish
in care for years,

and then we turn them loose.

The cost of it, of
course, is people

who will live on
welfare at best,

who will be in the criminal
justice system at worst.

That child has no resources.

What can she sell but herself?

I was going to start
college in September,

but I might not have a
house or an apartment.

All my life, I can
honestly say that I've

had to try to manage my
anger, and it's been tough.

Now, it's still
hard for me to trust

people because of all that.

I know that I can
trust my family.

But with other people in
life, it's hard for me

to still trust them.

My biggest fear is
for me to be homeless.

At 18 years old, you
want a child saying,

I'm going to be a
doctor or a lawyer.

I'm going to be an actress.

I'm going to be a musician.

I'm going to be
an oceanographer.

I'm going to be a veterinarian.

I'm going to be
someone, something.

Not I'm going to be homeless.

Family values is touted
on a day-to-day basis

by the politicians.

And it means nothing because
they never put their money

where their mouth is.

Without class-action litigation
when they really need it,

when nothing else will work,
these systems won't get fixed.

It is possible to make
government systems

accountable for these kids.

These systems are fixable.

That's what we do.

Instead of helping
one or two children,

these lawsuits require
an entire state

to change this child
welfare system.

Children's rights
had us in court,

which I believe they were doing
the right thing, we were not.

And we needed to get
on the right track.

If children's rights
was not here for me

to access, to say, help me
solve some of the problems

we're facing, it would be left
on me and my organization of 5.8

people.

We get calls from advocates,
responsible advocates,

and states around the country
imploring us to come and help

them fix their systems.

And we just don't have enough
staff to do all of that.

Children's rights is at a
crucial phase in its existence.

It can do so much more
than it is doing now.

It can expand into so many
areas of child welfare

that it has not yet
been able to touch

because of lack of resources.

I think children's rights is
absolutely essential to making

sure that the voiceless
or very small voices

are heard in this process.

When I was in foster care, I
dreamed about having a family.

I never thought it
could come true.

My dream right now is
just to be actually

be a detective or a radiologist.

So either one is good.

I want to write.

I want to dance.

I want to be a lawyer.

The sky is the limit.

You know what I'm saying?

I want to do everything
that I can in my young life.

I want to say to
all the kids that

don't give up because there's
still hope out there for you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]