Fictitious Truths - Barbara Lane

There are those who are passionate about their calling, and Dr. John DeGarmo is one.  Dr. DeGarmo is THE foster care expert to turn to for answers to your questions or to find support for your efforts in helping abused and neglected children. Dr. DeGarmo is the  founder of The Foster Care Institute, is an  International Speaker and Author.  Dr. DeGarmo uses all of his talents to educate you and to enhance your understanding of the crisis surrounding the foster care system. Find out what you can do as a lay person to help children who find themselves within the system. You can learn more about this amazing man on his website. I dare you not to cry when you listen to his TedTalk. http://drjohndegarmofostercare.com

There are many ways children get abused. Some are readily understood while others are harder to see.  Parental Alienation is a type of abuse that might be hard to grasp. It occurs when one parent alienates another from their children through manipulation. If you have been alienated from your children, or want to learn more about this particular type of abuse, you will want to listen to today's show where Fictitious Truths shares an interview with Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro.  Dr. Foderaro is a highly celebrated author, speaker and educator, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge and experience. You can read Dr Foderaro's bio at www.godcametomygaragesale.com In addition to her expertise in the field discussed, Marni also brings her own experiences of parental alienation into our discussion and shares with us what this particular type of child abuse is and how it effects the lives of all involved. Speaking from her heart, Marni offers hope and help to others who are struggling with issues of parental alienation. To that end she has written a total of 6 books, one a 5-books series where she addresses issues Marni has written a total of 6 books, one including a five-book series providing an opportunity for self-discovery regarding issues of domestic violence narcissist abuse and intergenerational trauma. You can find Marni's books on Amazon.com or on her website: http://godcametomygaragesale.com

It's a topic that is tough to discuss: the abuse of children by clergy. How can a man of God abuse the very child that is calling him "father?" We turn to our religion, our church, our synagogue for comfort, direction and support. What happens to faith when a child's very soul has been betrayed? Listen in as attorney Mark Bello informs us of his experiences while defending in court two young boys abused by a priest . You will want to know just how it all went down, how the Church fought the suit and what eventually happened in this case of child abuse by a clergy member. Mark Bello is also the author of some great novels, each dealing with timely issues of social justice. In "Betrayal of Faith," author Bello writes a realistic legal fiction surrounding the issue of clergy abuse of children. You can buy Mark's books on Amazon.com. You can also get to know more about this remarkable man at markmbello.com  You will enjoy his page-turning novels while gaining a deeper understanding of the issues we are facing in society today.

Here are some startling statistics. According to Fosteron.com 23,000 kids age out of the US foster care system every year. Of those kids, over 20% become homeless, under 60% will graduate from high school, 71% of young women will be pregnant by age 21, 25% will be involved in the justice system within 2 years of leaving foster care, under 3% will earn a college degree, 50% are unemployed by the age of 21 and 60% of sex trafficked youth came from foster care. In this podcast, we have been learning a lot about the plight of abused children, foster care and the social services system. This summer I have lined up some special guests willing to share their stories, as well as social workers and foster parents as they weigh in to help us understand the process of growing up as an abused child.

Did you know that a report of child abuse occurs every 10 seconds in the United States alone? According to Statista Research Department, there were 618,399 victims of child abuse in the United States in 2020. Of those, 136,000 victims were under one year of age and 150,673 between the ages of two and five. In keeping with those numbers, Fictitious Truths recaps Lucy’s story, one beginning when she was five years old, as she watched violent fighting between her parents. She cried out for her mother when she walked out the door, never to look back and leaving her daughter with Glitch, her father. Lucy’s story takes a turn for the worse when she and her father move into a one-room apartment. Her father is an alcoholic and Lucy tries to survive the bitter cold winter in a filthy apartment with little heat, no warm clothes, no food and only cold water running from the faucets. Meantime, Glitch, needing beer and cigarettes, decides to rob the neighborhood market. The clerk, Charlie, shoots Glitch in self-defense. Yet, Charlie is a kind and gentle man who feels awful that he had shot someone. He visits Glitch in the hospital and agrees to drop charges, as long as Glitch attends AA meetings, church on Sundays and works in the market for his room and board. Glitch isn’t even aware that Lucy had run away to a big blue trash ben where she could hide and search the trash for food. Luckily, before she froze to death, she was found by an elderly woman who brought her home and cares for her. The problem? The elderly woman decides Lucy is the perfect candidate to replace her dead child, Bess and so she doesn’t report Lucy to the authorities. Lucy is too young to understand what is occurring and learns to love Em (the elderly lady) and her puppy, Riley. Months pass before Glitch, Lucy’s father, realizes that he doesn’t even know where Lucy is. With Charlie’s help, he files a missing child report. Shortly, Em’s scheme is discovered by a neighbor and Lucy is removed to an emergency shelter. Em is placed on house arrest for kidnapping while Lucy grieves the loss of Em and the puppy. She doesn’t understand why she can’t return to live with Em. Within days, Lucy is placed in an emergency foster home where the foster mom, Mrs. Garrison, becomes captivated by the little girl. She applies to foster Lucy for an extended period of time, rather than a short emergency stay, and little by little she wins the small girl over as their relationship deepens. Lucy refers to Mrs. Garrison as Mrs. G and begins to feel safe in her presence, until she learns that the court has ordered her to visit with her father, Glitch. Remaining ever fearful of her father, Lucy must now face her deepest fear and go with her social worker for a supervised visit with the father she ran away from. We pick up Lucy’s story the morning of her visit with her father.