My journey through the Los Angeles foster care system was both miraculous and profoundly painful. Between 1982 and 1986, my biological parents had five children together, and I am the middle child. My father, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War, suffered from PTSD due to combat trauma. Years later, a work injury as a longshoreman in San Pedro left him permanently paralyzed. My mother was young, uneducated, poor, and often described as immature and irresponsible. Her reckless decisions and suspected substance abuse caused her family to distance themselves, leaving her without support.
Concerned neighbors stepped in when we were left alone, prompting DPCS to intervene. My siblings and I were separated into different foster homes, and we would never see our parents again. My mother moved out-of-state with another man, effectively disowning us, and never returned to California. Tragically, my father became homeless and later died from a pain medication overdose, while my mother passed away years later from alcoholism.
My older sister, Jessica, and I were placed together in a foster home in Carson with Ola Faye Martin, a retired nurse who became a dedicated foster parent. She was truly kind and caring, and her love gave us a sense of stability. However, my other siblings—Denver and Jennifer—weren’t as fortunate, placed in another foster home with Minnie Berg Carvajal in Paramount. My youngest brother, David, was privately adopted out-of-state.
After seven years, in 1995, Jessica and I were ordered to join our siblings under Minnie’s care. This was the beginning of an incredibly difficult time, marked by mental and physical abuse. Minnie saw us as a means to financial gain, petitioning for our father’s death benefits and withholding them from us. She manipulated our situation for her benefit, and we only discovered the full extent of her deceit after her death, when I was named the executor of her estate in 2020.
Despite the trauma I endured, I am now a proud mother, a dedicated wife, and an active participant in Burning Man, a cultural arts movement that has profoundly shifted my view of humanity through art, community, and connection. Though my foster care journey was filled with pain, it has shaped my resilience and helped me find my place in the world”.
