By Kenedi Dubose
Life can be an ongoing cycle of bad events that never seems to end, but sometimes you can change them for the better if you try. Deanna is young girl who’s been trying to find her way home her whole life. When she was just a baby, Deanna’s parents put her in foster care. During her childhood she went from family to family and all of them told her “You’re not my child, I’ll send you back.” Which they all did. So when Deanna turned 13, she decided to find her parents on her own.
Because Deanna was only 13, she had no idea where to start looking, so she went to the police station. The first time Deanna went, she was taken back to her foster family, but the second time, she wasn’t. She meet a lady named Officer Angela Smith. Ms. Smith had been a foster child herself, so she decided to help Deanna. She took her to a place where she could get help and said to call if she ever needed anything.
When Deanna arrived at the building, she was so excited. She was one step closer to finding home. But her happiness would be short lived. Deanna didn’t know anything about her parents and didn’t even know her real last name, so no one could help her. Deanna was so disappointed that she just gave up. She couldn’t go back to her foster family or the adoption agency, so where was she to go? The streets; and that’s when the walk began.
Deanna was a young girl on the streets, so who went after her? Men. They used and abused her. She lived in an abandoned house and sold drugs and her body, and all for what? Because she couldn’t find her parents. They had given her up anyway, so why should she care? That was the moment Deanna got up and went back to the police station.
At the police station, Deanna asked for Officer Angela Smith and when Ms. Smith came out, she knew exactly who Deanna was. Ms. Smith helped Deanna become emancipated and helped her get a job. Now 17, Deanna has her own apartment, car, and a job. But there was still something missing: her parents. She went back to the adoption agency and demanded to know her last name, and after a few hours, they told her. Deanna’s name was Deanna Angelica Smith. The first person she called was a Ms. Smith, who was so amazed that she told Deanna to meet her at her apartment in 20 minutes. When Deanna arrived at her apartment, Ms. Smith was waiting at her door in tears. They went inside and sat down. After Ms. Smith calmed down, she told Deanna she had a baby named Deanna Angelica Smith that she had given up for adoption 17 years. Deanna was hesitant at first; she didn’t know if this was really her mom or not so they took a DNA test. Two weeks later, the results came back. Ms. Smith was Deanna’s mom. She was home…