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Birth Family (20 found)
Note: These stories are from Represent and its sister publication, YCteen, which is written by New York City public high school students.
Although she’s spent years in foster care, Akeema fears losing her identity if she is adopted. (full text)
The writer, whose mother was 16 when she gave birth to her, argues that the children of teen moms often don’t receive the support they need. (full text)
When the writer returns home after a year in foster care, she and her mother have become distant, and both have a hard time trusting people.
Angel longs to have a good relationship with her mom. But they’ve never gotten along, and after foster care things are even worse.
Jarel’s grandmother adopts him after years in foster care, but they still have a rocky relationship.
After four years, Christiaan’s mother wants to reconnect. He wonders if she’s willing to confront the past.
Erica feels lost in big group homes and in her biological family, but finds peace and acceptance at a smaller, quieter group home.
Eric feels loved by his adoptive family, but still thinks often of his biological mother.
Karen goes into foster care because of her mother’s drug addiction. But once she finds a safe home, she and her mother are able to rebuild their relationship.
Carmen loses her son to foster care because of her drug abuse. When they are reunited after eight years, she is confronted by his deep anger at having been abandoned.
As she gets older, Rita feels more sympathy for her drug-addicted mother, which helps her let go of some of her anger over being abandoned.
The writer decides to return home after foster care. But she finds her dysfunctional family unchanged.
Jeremiyah is very close to his older brother, Alfred. When family conflicts land Alfred in a group home, they lose touch and Jeremiyah misses him dearly.
After her biological mother disappears, Lishoné has a hard time adjusting to her adoptive family.
Charlene, 12, takes responsibility for her five brothers and sisters when their mother becomes disabled by drugs. She gets them to school, oversees their homework, and does the household chores. Eventually Charlene goes into foster care, and vows to be good parent to her future children.
LeFonché is devastated when her mother refuses to allow her white foster mother to adopt her.
The writer has been shoplifting, off and on, since she was seven. The writer's mother was a thief and her father had multiple addictions, yet they expected her to be perfect. The writer thinks she steals out of a need to punish herself and rebel against her parents.
Although she's searched for him several times, Laura, 19, has never met her biological father. She now has two children by different men, but she makes sure the children maintain contact with their fathers because she doesn't want them to repeat her experience.
Unsure of being loved, the writer tests her adoptive mom and then her biological mom by acting wildly.
The writer grows apart from her beloved siblings after a family tragedy. Watching her sisters fall apart, she feels guilty but realizes her survival depends on finishing school and going to college. (full text)
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