Caught In the Blizzard!

‘‘The Damage had to be worth something’!”

“One good adult can be the anchor in a stormy sea for a child’’ ‘‘or in my case a stop to an internal snowstorm”

6th of March 2018. In the midst of a snowstorm that many may not remember, began the snowstorm of my new life. The day everything changed and I was forced to embrace the uncertainty. Leaving everything I have ever known behind, I entered the care system with no knowledge of what my life was going to look like, but reassured that I had my little brother by my side. Collected from school with my bags in the back of a Social Worker’s car, who continuously told me “it’s for the best right now”. A new family, a new school and a new perspective of life. 

I can’t remember much from the day- presumably due to the intense fear of the unknown, but I was determined that this was not going to define me. I was going to find my way regardless of the circumstances.

One good adult. All it takes in any one child’s life is one good adult. One adult that tells a child they are good enough. That their circumstance was out of their control and not their fault. One adult that tells you, “you can and will succeed in anything that you put your mind to”. I was fortunate enough to have that one amazing adult. 

Because of her, I focused in school like never before. She guided me through every day in school and was always in my corner when I needed it. No problem I was facing was too big or small for us to handle and she reassured me of this every day. She kept me positive when I felt least capable and gifted me the most special gift I have ever received, a blue mug with the words ‘positiviTEA’ because as she puts it, “there’s nothing in this world that can’t be solved by a good talk and a cup of tea”.

It truly is because of this one good adult that I am the person I am today. She showed me the importance of determining my own story and showed me how I could do so. She introduced me to the idea of Social Care as a course from as early as third year of secondary school and told me “I really think this is your calling”. She cried tears of joy with me when we opened my junior cert results only to realise that during the worst period of my life, I was still capable of passing my exams. She helped me to find my purpose in the chaos and always understood that my priority was creating a better life for my little brother than I had to experience and in that she made me realise that I could also create that “better life” for myself. 

I am now in my final year of my Social Care degree with the intention of pursuing a masters in Social Work, and I am finally at peace with this beautiful chaos that is my life. I thank my lucky stars every night that I was blessed with my bonus parents and siblings, and that I can now be that one good adult for another little girl or boy who may require so in the future. I am thankful I experienced an abundance of love from those who were in a position to do so at the level they were able to. I have a support system that little me could have never imagined and a group of friends that have shown me that this chapter of my life could actually be my superpower and not something to be ashamed of. My experiences have made me realise I have just as powerful a stance in this world that anybody else has. As I once put it, “the damage has to be worth something”, but it was so much more than damage. My experiences have thought me to be resilient in the face of change. It has helped me rely on myself for a stable base in which nobody can ever strip from beneath me. It has made me more determined and more empathetic and is in no way ‘damage’. I would not change any aspect of my life because it has led me to where I am today and most importantly it has taught me that “one good adult can be the anchor in a stormy sea for a child” or in my case, the stop to an internal snowstorm. 

By Shauna Faith Kelly (Social Media Editor)

Edited By Keicha Wall (Content Editor)