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Human Interest
She was trapped in a cycle of repeat abortions until a supernatural intervention
Angeline Tan
·Spotlight Articles
Guest Column·By Tori Hope Petersen
FOSTER CARE ADVOCATE: My first hero was my mom, who chose life
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this guest post are solely those of the author.
I was raised by a single mom. And throughout my childhood my mom had many different boyfriends in and out of our house.
From my little-girl understanding, my mom was my mom, but any guy she brought around, for the time that he was around, I believed that he was my dad. I didn’t think about how having multiple dads didn’t make sense. I just called all of the men who ever lived with us, “dad.” And I genuinely believed that they all were my father.
Then as I got older, I observed that most people had one dad who stuck around, not multiple who came and went. So I started to ask my mom questions about who my real father was. Strangely, she was dodgy about answering my questions.
The more answers my mom refused to give, the more questions I had. Eventually, I blurted out, “Mom, do you not want to talk about my biological father because he hurt you?”
Suddenly, my mom started uncontrollably crying. She held her hands in her face and wept, and when I asked what he did, she said she didn't want to tell me because she didn't want me to think that it defined me.
My mom went on to explain that she was in the wrong place at the right time of the month to conceive, and in an unsafe place where there was an unsafe person who took advantage of her body — and because of that, I came to be.
Through the adversity and loneliness, my mom ended up making decisions that were not the most healthy and eventually she ended up in jail. While no one wants to end up incarcerated, my mom going to jail may have been the very thing that saved my life, because when someone is in jail they are required to receive medical attention.
Since it is the jail's responsibility to assure that inmates receive medical care, my mom received an ultrasound.
She said there were people who advised she should just get an abortion, but to this day, my mom tells the story that when she heard my heartbeat and when she looked at the screen, she saw my little hands resting underneath my face.
She said it was that moment she knew that I was her child, and she would not abort me. For that reason, my mom was my first hero.
Sadly, my mom had a lot of trauma and she didn’t have the resources, community, or people to help her through all of it. She did the best she could.
She wanted to be a good mom to me. She always told me she loved me. She strived to provide for me, but when the dysfunction and abuse got so bad in our house, I went into the foster care system. I moved throughout 12 different homes, and eventually aged out.
Like 20% of youth who age out of the system, I was instantly homeless. Thankfully, after I aged out, a kind church woman named Tonya let me live with her and she became a mother figure in my life. She became a role model to me of hospitality and love and serving the vulnerable, and throughout my young adulthood to now I have watched Tonya let the drug addict, the unhoused, the pregnant teen mom, and the hungry into her home, and she would meet their needs.
It was through Tonya’s life that I learned when we let people into our homes, radical hospitality can heal much brokenness in the world.
At the same time, my track coach told me he believed I could accomplish great things in my track career. Though other people said I was “troubled,” he showed up for me and trained with me nearly every day. Though other people said I was a “bad kid,” my track coach treated me as a beloved child of God. Despite the odds stacked against me, my senior year of high school, I became a four time state champion in track.
With the support of my community and the support of a lot of people who poured out love to me and welcomed me into their homes, I was able to attend college (which only 3% of foster youth do) on a full ride scholarship.
In 2018, I graduated from Hillsdale College, and it was there that the foundation was laid for my career as an advocate for the most vulnerable.
When I was 17, I did my first-ever advocacy event for foster care and adoption.
While I was still in college, I started working for a nonprofit serving foster families. When I graduated college, I started speaking and advocating all over the nation about serving the vulnerable, the preborn, the foster child, and the child waiting to be adopted. And as I shared the hardest parts of my life, I got to witness them be redeemed and used for good.
Once you see the brokenness in the foster care system, you cannot unsee it, so my husband and I started fostering.
Our journey has not been easy, and there have been many times adversity in it has made us want to give up. But we kept going because we knew there was a great need, especially for people to open up their homes to teens in the foster care system.
Three years ago, we were blessed to start fostering our teen daughter. She embraced us as her mom and dad, and our biological children declared her as their sister. She has since moved out, just down the street, after buying her own home, and we couldn’t be more proud to have witnessed another successful foster care transition.
As Christians, my husband and I understood that even though it is so scary to say yes to, we are called to serve the orphan and the widow. And we have witnessed that God can bring healing and wholeness to the brokenness of the system if we keep saying yes.
Not everyone can be a foster parent, but it is pertinent as Jesus followers that we ask ourselves if we can somehow, some way, welcome in a child who needs a family or serve a family who does welcome in those without.
It is crucial that we realize that family is the foundation of our nation and the future of our country depends on the next generation. It is our responsibility to love, mentor, and welcome them in.
For more information relevant to this article and topic, read the following.
Follow Tori Hope Petersen on Instagram.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Angeline Tan
·
Guest Column
Hector O. Chapa, M.D.
·
Human Interest
Right to Life UK
·
Guest Column
Ashley Murphy
·
Guest Column
Melissa Bowcutt
·
Guest Column
Mark Lee Dickson
·Guest Column·By Tori Hope Petersen
FOSTER CARE ADVOCATE: My first hero was my mom, who chose life
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this guest post are solely those of the author.
I was raised by a single mom. And throughout my childhood my mom had many different boyfriends in and out of our house.
From my little-girl understanding, my mom was my mom, but any guy she brought around, for the time that he was around, I believed that he was my dad. I didn’t think about how having multiple dads didn’t make sense. I just called all of the men who ever lived with us, “dad.” And I genuinely believed that they all were my father.
Then as I got older, I observed that most people had one dad who stuck around, not multiple who came and went. So I started to ask my mom questions about who my real father was. Strangely, she was dodgy about answering my questions.
The more answers my mom refused to give, the more questions I had. Eventually, I blurted out, “Mom, do you not want to talk about my biological father because he hurt you?”
Suddenly, my mom started uncontrollably crying. She held her hands in her face and wept, and when I asked what he did, she said she didn't want to tell me because she didn't want me to think that it defined me.
My mom went on to explain that she was in the wrong place at the right time of the month to conceive, and in an unsafe place where there was an unsafe person who took advantage of her body — and because of that, I came to be.
Through the adversity and loneliness, my mom ended up making decisions that were not the most healthy and eventually she ended up in jail. While no one wants to end up incarcerated, my mom going to jail may have been the very thing that saved my life, because when someone is in jail they are required to receive medical attention.
Since it is the jail's responsibility to assure that inmates receive medical care, my mom received an ultrasound.
She said there were people who advised she should just get an abortion, but to this day, my mom tells the story that when she heard my heartbeat and when she looked at the screen, she saw my little hands resting underneath my face.
She said it was that moment she knew that I was her child, and she would not abort me. For that reason, my mom was my first hero.
Sadly, my mom had a lot of trauma and she didn’t have the resources, community, or people to help her through all of it. She did the best she could.
She wanted to be a good mom to me. She always told me she loved me. She strived to provide for me, but when the dysfunction and abuse got so bad in our house, I went into the foster care system. I moved throughout 12 different homes, and eventually aged out.
Like 20% of youth who age out of the system, I was instantly homeless. Thankfully, after I aged out, a kind church woman named Tonya let me live with her and she became a mother figure in my life. She became a role model to me of hospitality and love and serving the vulnerable, and throughout my young adulthood to now I have watched Tonya let the drug addict, the unhoused, the pregnant teen mom, and the hungry into her home, and she would meet their needs.
It was through Tonya’s life that I learned when we let people into our homes, radical hospitality can heal much brokenness in the world.
At the same time, my track coach told me he believed I could accomplish great things in my track career. Though other people said I was “troubled,” he showed up for me and trained with me nearly every day. Though other people said I was a “bad kid,” my track coach treated me as a beloved child of God. Despite the odds stacked against me, my senior year of high school, I became a four time state champion in track.
With the support of my community and the support of a lot of people who poured out love to me and welcomed me into their homes, I was able to attend college (which only 3% of foster youth do) on a full ride scholarship.
In 2018, I graduated from Hillsdale College, and it was there that the foundation was laid for my career as an advocate for the most vulnerable.
When I was 17, I did my first-ever advocacy event for foster care and adoption.
While I was still in college, I started working for a nonprofit serving foster families. When I graduated college, I started speaking and advocating all over the nation about serving the vulnerable, the preborn, the foster child, and the child waiting to be adopted. And as I shared the hardest parts of my life, I got to witness them be redeemed and used for good.
Once you see the brokenness in the foster care system, you cannot unsee it, so my husband and I started fostering.
Our journey has not been easy, and there have been many times adversity in it has made us want to give up. But we kept going because we knew there was a great need, especially for people to open up their homes to teens in the foster care system.
Three years ago, we were blessed to start fostering our teen daughter. She embraced us as her mom and dad, and our biological children declared her as their sister. She has since moved out, just down the street, after buying her own home, and we couldn’t be more proud to have witnessed another successful foster care transition.
As Christians, my husband and I understood that even though it is so scary to say yes to, we are called to serve the orphan and the widow. And we have witnessed that God can bring healing and wholeness to the brokenness of the system if we keep saying yes.
Not everyone can be a foster parent, but it is pertinent as Jesus followers that we ask ourselves if we can somehow, some way, welcome in a child who needs a family or serve a family who does welcome in those without.
It is crucial that we realize that family is the foundation of our nation and the future of our country depends on the next generation. It is our responsibility to love, mentor, and welcome them in.
For more information relevant to this article and topic, read the following.
Follow Tori Hope Petersen on Instagram.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Angeline Tan
·Guest Column
Hector O. Chapa, M.D.
·Human Interest
Right to Life UK
·Guest Column
Ashley Murphy
·Guest Column
Melissa Bowcutt
·Guest Column
Mark Lee Dickson
·