The worst day was when I got put in a foster home and over the years I have gotten in to a lot of trouble. It all started when I was about 13 or 14 my mom and step dad was on meth very badly and I had gotten to go spend some of the summer with them and I seen my mom and step dad stealing cars and all kinds of stuff so I decided to still the neighbors bike and so I did and then I got caught and I had to go to court so I id then I got put on probation . Then I was doing good until I got mixed up with the wrong people and I end up in a lot more trouble and then I got sent off cause my PO got tired of hearing my name and then I went to a boot camp and I was there for almost 5 or 6 months and then I ran because they where being mean and I was scared but then I got caught and I had got caught stilling some shoes from Wal-Mart because my feet where hurting from the boots I had on and then I was arrested and put in D home which is a jail but then I went to court and went home and now I got put in a foster home and I decided to runaway from it but then I got caught so now I have been put jail and I have been in jail since august 28th and I don’t have court until the 28th of September so now I am waiting but I have learned my lesson not to miss behave and to do what I am told to do and not to runaway from any where and if I have a problem with some one to go tell my PO what is going on and let him handle it and then I wont end up in trouble but I am going to court on the 28th of this month and I am hoping and praying I get to go home that day when I go to court but learn from my mistakes and be have and stay at home with your parents.
–M.F.

I’ve heard horror stories about youth boot camps, some of them are worse than jail. I want you to know that there are a bunch of us out here that are fighting for reforms so no kid has to go through what you did. You have been through a lot in your life, you sound like a strong person. I admire your positive attitude, I hope your court date goes well and your life gets settled down. You deserve much better. Thank you for sharing your story, I’m going to post it other places so more people can read it.
M.F want to let you know about our organization, it is called SIA Survivors of Institutional abuse the website is http://sia-now.org Please feel free to contact me directly I am the president of the Organization
Jodi Hobbs