Carmen
A youth reaches safety on her personal journey.
Carmen is a 16 year old female who is of Mexican descent. She was born and raised in Mexico until the age 12. At the age of 5, Carmen’s mother passed away, and at the age of 9, Carmen's grandfather began sexually abusing her. At the age 12, Carmen's father sent her to the United States to live with step-brothers and sisters so that Carmen could have a chance for a better life.
Things did not go as planned with Carmen’s half-siblings and Carmen ended up in foster care. Carmen stayed with her first set of foster parents for two years until they moved out of state. They were unable to take Carmen with them while they settled in. In the meantime, Carmen stayed in another foster home awaiting the time until she could move to her original foster parents home. After months with the new foster home, Carmen developed a comfortable bond with her foster mom whom she was able to disclose for the first time that she had been sexually abused. Carmen’s foster mother contacted Pathfinders Hand-in-Hand program so that Carmen could receive treatment for the sexual abuse.
Upon entering the Hand-in-Hand program and beginning therapy, Carmen was unable to make eye contact, participate in discussions of any kind and was fearful to even think about talking about the abuse. Carmen's foster mom participated in almost every session so that Carmen could feel more comfortable with the therapy process. Besides abuse issues, Carmen presented attachment issues, perfectionism, extreme mood swings, and high expectations of herself and her foster mom.
In time, Carmen began to make noticeable improvements. She now walks into therapy sessions with a smile on her face, her head is held up high, she makes eye contact, actively participates in the discussions, and she expresses that she feels much happier in her life. Carmen is beginning to trust and depend on her foster mom and believes that her foster mother will be there for her for the rest of her life. Carmen has high goals for herself in her future endeavors and continues to maintain a high GPA at school without putting pressure on herself to be perfect. She is taking all the necessary steps to obtain her Green Card, and then hopes to obtain a part-time job. Carmen continues to participate in the Hand-in-Hand program once a month to check in and maintain current goals.