Persia’s Story of Separation
The beginning of Persia’s story should have been filled with love and kisses and being kept safe. It’s what we want for all children. Instead Persia’s life story is complicated, filled with instability and uncertainty and years of not being safe, and regularly losing touch with her siblings after entering foster care.
When only six years old, Persia experienced her first time in foster care. After an automobile accident caused by her drunken mother, Persia and her siblings were removed from the home and put into foster care. Within a few days, the siblings were separated and placed in different homes and Persia was on her own away from all that she knew. The youngest of four, she struggled in her isolation, not knowing if or when she’d ever see her family again. No one explained to her what was happening with her or her siblings, creating a sense of abandonment and anxiety that would continue throughout her life.
“Through Boys & Girls Aid, Persia found the stability she longed for with her foster mom Rita and her counselor Lara.”
For Persia, whose biological family expanded to include three younger siblings, the pattern of separation from her siblings over the next 10 years in foster care contributed to her sense of isolation and the feeling that everything was out of her control. When the abuse and neglect would cause her to be removed from her home, she had no say in what happened to her or her siblings.
When sibling separation happens, it is done with the intention that the separation is only temporary and the siblings will be reunited when their caseworker is able to finally place all the children into a home. Sadly, this reunion can often take months to occur and there is great risk it may never happen at all. At Boys & Girls Aid it is vital that our work encompasses finding families who are able to take more than one sibling and to help these children recover from the trauma they’ve suffered.
Boys & Girls Aid is creating positive futures by investing in the idea that every child is worthy of a family to call their own and that siblings should remain together. Chosen families are trained and supported in order to help these children heal and overcome abandonment issues.
Through Boys & Girls Aid, Persia found the stability she longed for with her foster mom Rita and her counselor Lara. Rita was the motherly love she craved and Lara helped her to find her voice and be heard. Getting to live with Rita until the age of 18, even though she was still separated from her siblings, saved Persia’s life. Today Persia is a healthy, strong-minded and loving person. She’s happily married and has a successful career in fitness that she is passionate about. She found caring, stable adults who did not give up on her. Boys & Girls Aid believes that every child in foster care needs lifelong connections and we’re doing the work every day to make this a reality.
