Missing children

I just watched Chicago Med tonight and wow it really effected me a lot. One of the patients in the hospital came in as she was not feeling well. Turns out she was a child that had been kidnapped and now was an adult. She was taken from her home at about 8 years old or so. She had been taken away from everything and everybody she knew. She had to grow up with strangers who took her. They stripped her of every thing even her name.

In Canada 50,000 children are missing each year. Most are found within a short period of time, others it’s long term missing. Some are abducted by strangers and most are taken by one parent or another. This is staggering 800,000 children in the US are missing, injured, run away from home or abducted.

The girl in this tv show for reunited with her mom in the end but what they don’t show you and for many abducted people is how life is after you get reunited. The hardest thing in this world is to come back and live life in a life you have never lived. For one you don’t know any of the people you’ve been reunited with. You don’t know them, their home, their city, schools nothing. I lived this life don’t get me wrong coming and meeting my mom and living here saved my life. My mom was so happy to have me back. I was gone for 12 years abducted by my real dad and taken with my brother to Ireland.

Being taken from my mom at such an early age leads to many issues with attachment. That’s the foundation for a healthy childhood. I was almost two and my brother was 5 and a half. For 12 years we lived apart from our mom. At 14 my brother and I met my mom. At 16 I moved here from Ireland with my one suitcase. That’s all I owned.

It’s hard enough being a teenager without now living a completely different life. I was enrolled in school. Canada and Ireland the cultures are so different and the children teased me so much for being different. Oh top of being different I had been brought up in a world of shelter and not having experiences other children had. I also endured a lot of abuse all types. I was extremely shy and withdrawn. To top it off I knew nobody except my brother but he was already out of the house trying to live his own life here in Canada.

Life was so confusing the rules made my head spin. I had no rules and no boundaries and I lived in fear. My mom was really good with me but we fought often because too much space scared me from how I was used to growing up. I had great survival skills but no social skills. What are you supposed to do with all of that? I did end up in counseling for long periods of time to sift through all the pain and trauma I had endured.

Despite all I have gone through in my life. My life today is really good. I’ve gone through addiction two different kinds and come out on the other side of both. When life was really hard and tough I never gave up and I always worked harder then anyone else to accomplish what I wanted. I am the woman who I am today because of my experiences in life. I have overcome so much and have so many people in my life who love me. I believe with all my heart that is why I succeeded so much in life. I was given all the tools to live life in a world that is not always forgiving. This world is tough especially when I was just trying to fit in like everyone else.