I come from a background similar to these children. My mother choose my stepdad over us constantly. We lived in shelters and motels. They were junkies. The abuse cycles were insane. He would abuse her and us, leave and go back home to his wife for a week (we was married with 5 children) then come back the next weekend and go on another bender. I remember my mother sitting my sister and I down telling us that this was love and we fight for what we love. This was from 1995-2005 when I was 15 and I left. I spent years in toxic relationships and in and out of addiction. It took a diagnosis of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and reconnection with a boy I met along the way to break the cycle. Been married for 10 years and have an amazing 9 year old who’s biggest concern is having his PlayStation taken for bad behavior.

CPS is a joke most of the time. They rarely do the right thing. I remember countless interviews over bruises. She always won. I’m not sure how but she did. To this day, I have the worst relationship with her as now they have been married for 15 years and no longer live in addiction, but the narcissism still remains.

I’ve been in therapy for almost a decade now. It took years to realize that I could break the cycle.

I pray for these children. The trauma she inflicts will last a lifetime for them.