It's a small world

A long time ago, when I worked for the Department of Social Services as a Foster Care worker, my boss told me about this case she had to testify for in court. It involved a 14 yr old child who had been put into care with a foster family. The man was a high level muckety muck at Duke Power and made big money every year. The foster parents were told that the child had been sexually abused and had no sexual boundaries, and so they had to be VERY careful about how they treated anything with her...well, the foster father took this as a bonus. He then proceeded to sexually abuse this 14 yr old girl, offering her all sorts of money and gifts if she'd participate, and telling her she'd go to a group home she hated if she didn't. Naturally, this poor 14 yr old went ahead and participated.

The man's daughter caught them together. She was horrified and told her mom. The mom said it was all the 14 yr old's fault as she was a "slut" who enticed her husband. You must be fucking kidding me! They were WARNED that they had to be delicate with her for said reasons, and he took ADVANTAGE of her. They hired a high powered lawyer. My boss told me that when they tried to prosecute the man for sexual abuse, his lawyer kept going off about what a little whore this poor 14 yr old girl was, and she pressed my boss to admit on the stand that the girl seduced this GROWN MAN of 40 years or so. My boss retorted, sarcastically, "Yes, but WHO is the child? WHO is the adult?" And it shut the lawyer down sputtering for a moment. DSS won the case. The man lost his high money job and went to jail. I always wondered what happened to that girl.

Well, now I know.

Today while at the Writing Center, talking to this really cool student that I adore, she opened up to me some parts of her past. This girl and I have chatted a few times about her husband, her bad situation, her children, her life...I knew she had been abused and a former foster child. After talking to her today, I realized exactly who she was. I had HEART FAILURE when I realized...this girl is the girl!!!! I asked her coolly a few questions, and then we talked about my former boss (her caseworker), her life, her placement afterwards, and how this situation has affected her. She's doing better than I thought she would, but I sincerely fret for her now as I understand completely what she's gone through and how it affects her. I want to help her. I want to take her and her kids home with me because GOD KNOWS she's done a remarkable job of getting her life in gear and she has the strength of will to take on all of life. I respect her completely for that fact.

And I hope that fucking rapist child molester rots in jail, then in hell.