Home is more than a few walls held together with a roof, it might sound cliche but believe me when I say home is somewhere you feel loved. This may be somewhere you feel special and or wanted. All the children in my home are either in foster care or adopted. I came into foster care because my birth mother was a drug addict and did drugs while pregnant with my siblings and I. My mother had several children and we were all adopted, however we can still be a family even if we live in different houses.
Like any other newborn with a mother who did drugs during pregnancy, I was born having trouble with memory, attention, controlling impulses, and school performance growing up. Long story short, I would have been placed in a house that would not have had enough money to support me and I would have been in a drug filled environment. I was immediately put into foster care shortly after I was born. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get adopted by my foster family. I was part of a whole new family that is made up of different ethnicities.
In our home we have Asian, African American and, Cacaisian. About 3 years after that, we were lucky enough to get a call about my little brother. At first it was hard in school, I struggled, was put in math support, reading support, and even writing support in elementary school. Slowly but surely I conquered those support classes and became an all A student in middle school. From a writing support class, to loving writing in middle school and now I’m in AP English.
What does all this background information have to do with how a house makes a home? This information is important to know because I can’t imagine being able to overcome the challenges I had at school without proper meals, care and support from the home I have now. It is hard to focus with ADHD and it would worsen if all I did was think about how hungry I was. Also did you know teens with parents who use drugs are more likely to become drug users themselves? I couldn’t imagine having a better memory if I happened to start using drugs because of influences like that. I believe that is not a house that would make me feel at home nor make me feel as though I belong. I’m better off with the parents that I ended up living with now. Not that I don’t love my birth parents, but my family that surrounds me now makes me feel loved and cared about. I feel at home when I’m around them, like I belong. The family inside the house is what makes a “home”.
