Writing My Wrongs

Dear Suz,
Your story totally breaks my heart. I got pregnant, when I was a teenager. It was 1982. I was forced into a maternity home. My story ended differently than yours. I did keep my baby, but not without a fight. However, I would not have been able to do this if my 18-year-old sister had not contacted a lawyer. By that time, I was nearly 8 months pregnant. I still tremble, when I think about it. I was a hair away from having my baby stolen from me.
During my incarceration at the home, we were bombarded with lies, lies, lies!!!! I was even told by one social worker that since I was under the age of 16, that the state could terminate my rights merely based on my age alone; and if that were to happen, it could be used against me if I ever had any other children.
I want to scream when people tell me that I’m lying about the five months I spent in that prison. People have said things to me such as,”Did they still even have those homes in 1982?” It’s always said with tone of sarcastic disbelief.
To make a long story short, I had to fight to keep my daught till she was almost 2 years old. Contrary to what the all-knowing social workers and nuns said, I did graduate from high school AND college. I even managed to marry a decent man.(Hint of sarcasm here). Even though I was one of the few lucky ones who managed to escape with my child, it was not without damage to my daughter and me. The damage was caused by the emotional abuse from these jerks.
Lately, I have become extremely angry at these people for what they have done to all of us. When did it become the job of young women to provide babies to the infertile people? Maybe this anger is coming from the realization that I was not able to really enjoy my pregnancy or that so much of my focus during the first two yearrs of daughter’s life was spent on maintaining my custody and my rights.
I raised my daughter by myself. My parents were both disabled and not in any position to help. Also, I think that the lack of support from other people was due to the fact that they didn’t approve of my choice. My aunt couldn’t believe that I wasn’t embarrassed by my situation.
I hate that saying that “it takes a village to raise a child” Where was the darn village, when I needed them? I’ll tell you where. They were dragging my butt to court trying to declare me an unfit mother. Their “reason” was that I was too busy with school and work, therefore I didn’t have the time to be mother. I was working to jobs. One job was to pay bills. The other job paid for child care so that I could go to high school. Never once did any of these jerks tell me that I could apply for state help. My organic chemistry prof- of all people-told me about all the help I could get. If she knew about these things, surely the social workers knew. They just wanted to force me into relinquishment. They thought that I would give up.
I didn’t mean to make this so wordy. I want you to know that what you are doing helps and will help so many people. I want to help, too. God Bless you and all the other girls and women, who lost their children to the adoption vultures.—-Maggie