Taking a child from everything they've ever known,
ripping them out and taking them away.
Now left to face this new place all alone,
but did you ever even understand the true foul play?

Abuse, neglect, and nowhere to run,
I thought there was freedom in sight.
But little did I know, there was none,
So in this dark cruel world I will take that chance and make my flight.

From one home to the next,
never having stability or a steady home.
Do you understand the long term effects?,
for the rest of my life I will wander and roam.

As to what I did that was so wrong,
to make my parents not love me or not want to fight.
Not knowing where I come from or where I belong,
not knowing that I will relive this when I close my eyes every night.

Each new home smells like strangers,
when we walk in they are cooking something on the stove.
To cover the smell of the dangers,
but I was left to stay and off she drove.

She would visit once a month and ask how is it here?,
I would try to tell of what I was going through.
And each time I would say it with a tear,
but each time there was nothing you would do.

As a child we have no voice,
no rights to speak or have a say.
And we have no choice,
as to where we stay.

I hate the system and what it has done to me,
I hate my past and what I come from.
But it makes me want to live each and every day for them to see,
of what all I can and have overcome.

- Jessica Marie O'Connell