When ten-year old Andrea came to Tennyson Center for Children, the treasures she brought with her were few. In her backpack she carried a stuffed animal she loved, a school paper with a high grade, and a few, cherished other posessions. This sweet girl had virtually no family. Her stepfather, who had molested Andrea repeatedly, was now in prison. Her mother struggled to be the kind of parent she always wanted to be and was even homeless at times.

Andrea had been sexually abused by her stepfather since the age of seven. She took her pain and anger out on others with frequent verbal threats and actual physical assaults, especially on her younger siblings. She hoarded and stole food. At her lowest and most desperate point, she became suicidal.

Finally, the local County Department of Human Services took Andrea and her siblings out of their home and Andrea was selected to come to Tennyson Center. She was placed in individual and group counseling. Meanwhile, her mother was undergoing therapy in the hopes that one day, the children and their mother could reunite as a family.

Our treatment counselors and therapists worked with Andrea day in and day out---in the classroom, in the lunchroom, in the cottage where she lived on campus, and during playtime. They worked on anger management, conflict resolution, empathy, trust and acceptance. Andrea struggled at first. She was hostile with everyone. She was never without a huge cloth-covered bag hanging over her shoulder, looking like someone who was carrying the weight of the world with them...and in a way, she was. In the bag, she kept those things that represented the few moments of comfort, happiness and safety in her young life. In addition to the stuffed animal and school paper, the bag contained a photograph of her brothers and her sister; a baby doll with blankets and a bottle, a few items of clothing for herself, a mysterious key to some unknown door and ALWAYS some leftover piece of food from a previous meal.

Andrea had many issues to work on, the biggest being her fear and inability to trust that her own mother would keep her physically and emotionally safe. Fearing that she had to protect herself, she became hateful because, that way, no one would ever bother her...no one would ever get close to her. She would be in control and have all the power, just like her stepfather once did.

It took more than a year of intensive therapy, counseling and treatment to get Andrea to begin trusting others again. Her mother responded well to parenting training, family therapy and counseling and found a new job and an a apartment in a safe neighborhood. It was soon time for Andrea and her family to be reunited, although she still attended school in Tennyson Center's Day Treatment program.

Andrea was a bit confused by the change in her mother. She was guarded and, for a time, unaccepting of her mother's love. Andrea made progress, though, through her daytime counseling sessions. After several months of individual and family therapy, her teacher noticed a change in Andrea and told her how nice it was to see her smiling so often. With hope in her eyes, Andrea told her teacher, "I'm so proud of my mother. She worked just as hard as I did so we could become a family again...I know she loves me."

Back to Success Stories page.