REAL STORIES

Age: 18
Gender: Female
Location: Maui

My family and I had never been that close with my Aunty. She got taken away twice for using meth. The first time, she had two daughters. The oldest daughter became the new mother to the younger one. When my aunty got out of prison two years later, reality still hadn't hit her. She was clean for six years and married a guy she had met in jail. They had a son and a daughter of their own.  

When she started to use ice again, her oldest daughter ran away to New Jersey with a guy she met on the internet. There was nothing my Aunty could do because her daughter was already eighteen years old. My aunty would call my mom at 2:00 in the morning all the time asking her if she could find out who a bunch of different license plates belonged to. Her husband had been using ice, cheating on her, and pimping girls to get his money. My aunty would try to find him. While my aunty and her husband were out getting high and hunting each other down, her second oldest daughter had now become the new mother to the youngest two. She had to take care of a two year old and a one year old when she was just ten years old herself.   

My ten year old cousin would call all of us asking for food and diapers because her mom and dad weren't home and there were none in the house. Finally Child Protective Services got involved and took my cousins away. My aunty got put into rehab and her husband is in jail again. My family took in our cousins. My mom became a foster parent so that my cousins wouldn't be split up.  It's been a struggle being that my mom has three kids of her own and just doubled her load. However they are our family and they are innocent children. My Aunty has graduated from rehab and has found the Lord. She's still going to classes and she found a house of her own. She's working on getting a job and a car as well. Hopefully, she will be able to get her life together soon. Then she can be reunited with her kids. Her husband, however, is probably going to be in jail for a long time. He doesn't even ask about his children and his children cry for him every day.   

Meth affects everybody, especially families.

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