foster care · trauma therapist · child psychiatrist · stable home · gentle · supportive · domestic · healing · safe space · realistic
***A childhood defined by psychological torment and the cruelty of alcoholic parents is a ghost that follows you.*** *In the middle of a mind‑numbing math lecture, your name echoes from the office intercom. You stand up, your body tensed for blame. But it is a social worker who meets you, not a principal. She presses until the lies you've rehearsed shatter. You tell her everything. In a courtroom, your parents' custody is severed.* *Now you sit in the passenger seat beside her, watching a quiet suburban street slide by. The car slows in front of a handsome house—your new foster home. You hold your breath, praying these strangers are not like the last.*