Special from the Adams Rescue Mission

By Lex McMillan

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Abused by her partner, the father of her seven-year-old, nonverbal autistic son, she and her little boy fled that relationship last fall and came to Gettysburg where her older sister lives.  After a few months in the SCCAP shelter, she was referred to The Agape House.  Now 45, for the first time in her life, she feels that she has found a loving family. She is the middle child of five born in eight years to alcoholic parents.  Her mother was fifteen when she married. Her father was abusive to her mother and his children.  Separated from her husband, her mother got a Protection from Abuse order, but soon thereafter her mother abandoned the children.  For eight months she and her four siblings lived in their house with no food or power.  She was only ten.

They survived by stealing food from a local grocery store or from their neighbors’ homes, and by “dumpster diving” at a local McDonalds. The neighbors called the police but when they came to her house, she told them that their mother was at work.  The same story worked for a while with agents of Children and Youth Services (CYS).  The children were finally placed in foster care when she was eleven.  The two older children were placed with one family; she and her two younger siblings were placed with an aunt and uncle.  Her mother served eight months in jail for abandoning the children but then surrendered the children to state custody.  She never tried to get them back.  She ran away from her foster parents when she was only fourteen.

“Emancipated” from state custody when she was seventeen, she was on her own.  She completed her GED and worked a variety of jobs.  She says her greatest success was as a telephone solicitor for Make-A-Wish Foundation and other charities.  She suffers from agoraphobia which limits her capacity for work outside the home.

During a period of sobriety, her parents took her to church.  She connected with a loving pastor who gave her the faith that continues to sustain her.  She once asked her grandmother why she had to suffer so much pain.  Her grandmother assured her that “God gives his strongest soldiers the hardest tasks.” She is comforted by those words and says she feels that God is working in her life, guiding her, and giving her strength.

She is committed to keeping her son safe and getting him the help that he needs.  This has been a challenge. She is convinced that her little boy was sexually abused by his father, but she describes a forensic interview by a CYS agent as superficial.  The agent asked her son five questions which he did not have the capacity to answer and then concluded the interview.  She was shocked by the superficial process and continues trying to get justice for her son.

Although she lives in fear from her former partner who has threatened to kill her, she is sustained by her faith and committed to protecting her little boy.  She has found God’s unconditional love and peace at The Agape House.

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