Finding Katie: The Diary of Anonymous, a Teenager in Foster Care
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Here are some examples of their letters:
NO NAME (A BOY): My mom and dad were having marital problems; she thought he had a girlfriend. Their quarreling and screaming got me crazy and I started hanging out at the mall. There at a “car game” I met Jeff. He was a lot older than me but he loved cars and told me he’d take me for a drive in his red convertible. A couple of days later he let me drive even though I’m only fifteen. Jeff was my idol! I wanted to be just like him. 1. Slowly we went from a few raunchy flicks while drinking a little beer and smoking a little weed. 2. Then on to porno and harder drugs. 3. He gave me a drug and raped me. 4. I guess that was my dumb fault, but now I’ve got some sores and I’m afraid to go to the doctor. I wish I knew what to do.
NO NAME: I am a schoolteacher who was raped by my two teenage cousins when I was little. I now am married and have three children but the “fear factor” in my life has never let up. Please, please help me to dump my thirty-year horror movie! It still, at odd times, comes back in front of my eyes like it was happening again. How could my parents not have known? What would they have done if I had told them? Did my cousins do it to other little girls? I wish I knew someone I dared talk to. I think, even writing this to you, a stranger, has lifted up the weight a little.
If you have been abused in any way, find someone to talk to: a parent, a school counselor, or a clergy person. Telephone information! Ask them to get you a number for a child abuse hotline.
Remember that if you have been abused by a father, grandfather, mother, or anyone else, you are most likely not the only person they have abused!
Crisis Lines
You can call any crisis line in your local telephone book, or you can call any of the following free numbers:
Sexual Assault Crisis Line (1-800-643-6250)
Boys Town (which now includes girls) (1-800-448-3000)
Hope Line (1-800-656-4673)
National Youth Crisis Hotline (1-800-448-4663)
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BEATRICE SPARKS, PH.D.
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Copyright
FINDING KATIE. Copyright © 2005 by Beatrice M. Sparks. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004099838
ISBN-10: 0-06-050721-7 — ISBN-13: 978-0-06-050721-3
First Avon edition, 2005
EPub Edition © March 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-201268-5
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Table of Contents
Foreword
Begin Reading
Statistics
Questions, Answers, and Crisis Lines
Other Books Edited by Beatrice Sparks, Ph.D.
Copyright
About the Publisher