How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick

I passed the holding tanks, rooms with big windows containing kids who had just been arrested. In there were kids pacing, fighting addictions, fearfully waiting to be assigned to a unit. Some kids were right at home. They knew this place! They had been there before.

When I stepped into the inner sanctum I heard sounds that confirmed my fears. Angry kids were screaming, using profane language. I heard loud pounding on the doors, which dotted the narrow hallways. Juvenile inmates were communicating through the thick cement walls. As I scurried along, I saw empty eyes piercing out at me through the small, eye level windows of their rooms. I passed through more metal doors and hallways, until I came to the unit I was to speak in. Inside sat fifty young men, of all nationalities. I knew from their varying hair color. Their backs were toward me. They were juveniles from the age of 15 to 17.

As I slowly walked to the front of the room, I made sure there was a guard on either side, in case one of them grabbed me. I took a deep breath and turned toward them. My heart stopped! I was shocked! They were just kids! I expected them to look like criminals, but they looked like they could be one of my nine grandkids.

Although some did appear tough, and others rough, there was something about them that touched me. At that moment, my life changed! A still small voice inside me said, “you must try to help them!”

Thus began my continuing, nine-year mission, to help kids who are in trouble with the law. These are my kids. “The Forgotten Kid.” The children we think we can lock up, throw away the key, and forget. The ones who learned most of the bad things they have done, from us, the older generation. They are kids, paying the price for the sins of society. Our scapegoats

There are up to 600 kids locked up, in this facility, at any time. The Hall houses kids from the age of 10 to 18, although I saw a nine-year and ten-year-old carrying blankets and pillows. Were they going camping? No! They were headed to their rooms, to be locked up, for armed robbery.

BE A WINNER IN LIFE IS MY PROGRAM. I help the kids believe they can still be WINNERS. I teach them they have potential to do amazing things with their life. In fact, I believe God sent them to this earth to do good with their lives. I tell them each one is a genius, in their own way, and can do something better than anyone else can do. They must find their genius. They must go to school, obey the law, obey their parents, be honest and work hard. My goal is to share with them the same truths I taught my kids: the basic truths of right and wrong.

I hope to support the parents who are good parents, but their kids got on the wrong track. I try to teach the ones with bad parents, or no parents, values they were never taught: basic principals of good and bad.

How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick

As I slowly walked to the front of the room, I made sure there was a guard on either side, in case one of them grabbed me. I took a deep breath and turned toward them. My heart stopped! I was shocked! They were just kids! I expected them to look like criminals, but they looked like they could be one of my nine grandkids.

Although some did appear tough, and others rough, there was something about them that touched me. At that moment, my life changed! A still small voice inside me said, “you must try to help them!”

Thus began my continuing, nine-year mission, to help kids who are in trouble with the law. These are my kids. “The Forgotten Kid.” The children we think we can lock up, throw away the key, and forget. The ones who learned most of the bad things they have done, from us, the older generation. They are kids, paying the price for the sins of society. Our scapegoats

There are up to 600 kids locked up, in this facility, at any time. The Hall houses kids from the age of 10 to 18, although I saw a nine-year and ten-year-old carrying blankets and pillows. Were they going camping? No! They were headed to their rooms, to be locked up, for armed robbery.

BE A WINNER IN LIFE IS MY PROGRAM. I help the kids believe they can still be WINNERS. I teach them they have potential to do amazing things with their life. In fact, I believe God sent them to this earth to do good with their lives. I tell them each one is a genius, in their own way, and can do something better than anyone else can do. They must find their genius. They must go to school, obey the law, obey their parents, be honest and work hard. My goal is to share with them the same truths I taught my kids: the basic truths of right and wrong.

I hope to support the parents who are good parents, but their kids got on the wrong track. I try to teach the ones with bad parents, or no parents, values they were never taught: basic principals of good and bad.

How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick

Although some did appear tough, and others rough, there was something about them that touched me. At that moment, my life changed! A still small voice inside me said, “you must try to help them!”

Thus began my continuing, nine-year mission, to help kids who are in trouble with the law. These are my kids. “The Forgotten Kid.” The children we think we can lock up, throw away the key, and forget. The ones who learned most of the bad things they have done, from us, the older generation. They are kids, paying the price for the sins of society. Our scapegoats

There are up to 600 kids locked up, in this facility, at any time. The Hall houses kids from the age of 10 to 18, although I saw a nine-year and ten-year-old carrying blankets and pillows. Were they going camping? No! They were headed to their rooms, to be locked up, for armed robbery.

BE A WINNER IN LIFE IS MY PROGRAM. I help the kids believe they can still be WINNERS. I teach them they have potential to do amazing things with their life. In fact, I believe God sent them to this earth to do good with their lives. I tell them each one is a genius, in their own way, and can do something better than anyone else can do. They must find their genius. They must go to school, obey the law, obey their parents, be honest and work hard. My goal is to share with them the same truths I taught my kids: the basic truths of right and wrong.

I hope to support the parents who are good parents, but their kids got on the wrong track. I try to teach the ones with bad parents, or no parents, values they were never taught: basic principals of good and bad.

How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick

BE A WINNER IN LIFE IS MY PROGRAM. I help the kids believe they can still be WINNERS. I teach them they have potential to do amazing things with their life. In fact, I believe God sent them to this earth to do good with their lives. I tell them each one is a genius, in their own way, and can do something better than anyone else can do. They must find their genius. They must go to school, obey the law, obey their parents, be honest and work hard. My goal is to share with them the same truths I taught my kids: the basic truths of right and wrong.

I hope to support the parents who are good parents, but their kids got on the wrong track. I try to teach the ones with bad parents, or no parents, values they were never taught: basic principals of good and bad.

How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick

How did I start speaking at Juvenile Hall? It began a long time ago, when I was a little girl, the daughter of an alcoholic father who emotionally damaged my mother and us kids. I grew up in circumstances similar to some of these young wards.

I speak to them because I would have loved to have had someone, who cared, talk to me when I was young.

Some of these kids, like me, are the off spring of parents who didn’t care how their actions affected their kids. We were from homes full of contention caused by parents with addictions. Sick parents who were unable to control their own lives, let alone parent a child. So-called parents, who lived in their own hell and created havoc in the lives of their children. Parents who abandoned their kids.

When I talk to the kids, I relate to the ones who hope to fix their parents, and those who must care for their siblings. I relate because I remember pouring my Dad’s alcohol down the drain, thinking it would fix our problems but instead, I got myself into lots of trouble. I remember taking money from my Dad’s pocket, after he passed out, to give to my Mom. Money for food.

I remember the day I realized that whatever I did at home would change nothing. I would never have the loving family I longed for. Like many of these kids, I turned to friends for the family I needed. Like them, they were usually the wrong kids of friends, peers who were doing bad things. I remember drinking alcohol, even though I hated it, so I could fit in.

I hear my same story, over and over again, at Juvenile Hall.

To help them I share a profound truth, which I discovered in my young life. “Bad things happen for a reason!”

My bad thing: after a wasted life, at the age of 57, my Dad died an alcoholic. His drink of choice was 100% over proof rum. The good thing: My Dad’s death led to me realize I didn’t want to end up like him, or give my kids the life he gave me. I eventually made a commitment to stop drinking and change my life. Thankfully I was young and not an alcoholic, like my Father and Grandfather.

My commitment worked! I share with them how wonderfully my life has turned out, because of one small choice. I used my Dad’s mistakes to choose a better life for myself. I now have the life I dreamed about. My husband and I have been happily married for 45 years and with our children and grandchildren, are a close knit, happy, non-drinking family.

I tell them, “you can turn the bad things which have happened in your life into motivation for a better life too.” I help them believe they still have time to change.

Another reason I speak at Juvenile Hall is because I was a victim of a drunk driver. At the age of 17, the car I was riding in was hit head-on by a drunk driver. My head went through the windshield. My nose and part of my ear was torn off. Thankfully doctors put me back together, but I came to realize the terrible carnage alcohol could cause. I’ve had a mission all my life to teach the evils of alcohol use. I was a speaker for Mother’s Against Drunk Driving for several years. In fact, they were the ones who first sent me to speak at Juvenile Hall.

I teach the kids to abstain from alcohol and drugs. I have commitment cards, which I encourage them to sign and honor. I know if I can help them make a commitment not to drink alcohol, or use drugs; they will have a better chance at changing their lives and reaching their potential. They don’t need alcohol or drugs in their life. Most of the kids are locked up