A Reminder Not to Judge Someone By Their Cover

We don't know what's behind foster care doors. Some children will find a temporary good home, possibly a permanent one if they are lucky. Humans of New York share this story of a man that was placed in a boys' home.  Please read his story and put Caldwell's House in your mind when you read this man's tragic story. Majority of youth aging out of foster care has a higher rate of incarceration and being homeless.That is why we, Caldwell's, strongly believe in our mission: creating housing options for young adults aging out of the child welfare system in Oklahoma City area. So that they can have a home while we help them prepare for the adult's world. Everyone deserve great opportunities.  

 

“My dad gave me up to the boys’ home when I was four. He told me that he was taking me fishing. He got the poles, the bait, everything. I was excited. He said he knew about a new spot. We pulled up to this huge building. He told me to wait in the car while he ran inside and got permission from his friend. Then he came back with two men. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but you have to stay here.’ I kept screaming: ‘I’ll be good! I’ll be good! I’ll be good!’ And he kept saying, ‘It ain’t you. It ain’t you. It ain’t you.’ I ripped his shirt off his back trying to keep him from leaving, and he drove off without a shirt.” “I was in the home for 13 years. It was a very abusive environment for everyone there. There were four staff members in particular that were especially bad. One of their favorite forms of punishment was the ‘full burn.’ First they’d make you take your clothes off and lay on the carpet. One of them would sit on your back, and the other one would pull you all the way down the hall. The worst was The Ice Man. If I saw him today, he’d be dead. He was like one of those guys you see in the movies, where even when he smiled, it was ice cold. He’d come in your room and tell you that you had a date with The Ice Man. Then he’d fuck you and make you suck his dick. Then afterward, he’d tell you when your next date was going to be, just so you’d have to worry about it all week. Ten of us tried to escape when I was seventeen. I had a date with The Ice Man coming up so I figured I had nothing to lose.” “Ten of us got together and decided to escape. We were all 17 except for two really young kids who wanted to come with us. We had no plan really. The only time we’d ever left the boy’s home was when they brought us to Barnum and Bailey’s circus one time. Other than that, we knew nothing about how to survive in the outside world. The first night, two of us went into a grocery store and tried to steal a bunch of food for the group, but the owner called the cops. We all ran different directions when the cops came. I was the one they chased. I started to run up this mountain and I remember them shouting to me: ‘It’s going to snow tonight!’ All I had on were Nikes. And that night a blizzard came. I’d never been in a blizzard before. So I tried to get off the mountain, but it was dark by then and snowing hard so I fell 30 feet into a ravine. I was unconscious for a long time. When I woke up I was covered in snow, and my foot was frozen solid.”  http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

Hopefully after you read this post, that we remind ourselves that we don't judge someone standing on a median asking for money. Because they could've been ones that aged out of of foster care, with no plan and home to go to.