Courtney was four and a half when she was removed from a house with no running water and a roof open to the rain. What was supposed to be rescue became years of abuse in a placement that should never have passed an inspection — and every time she tried to tell, she was punished for it.

This is the story of what she did next. Now sixteen, Courtney is interning in courtrooms, running a mentorship program for kids in foster care, and speaking at foster-parent recruitment events. In this conversation she walks through the early childhood she still remembers in detail, the failures of a CPS system that took a foster home's word over a child's, the adoptive family that finally gave her safety, and the day she decided to stop being a victim and start being a voice.

She is unflinching about the system, generous about the people who got it right, and clear-eyed about why the very things she was punished for — being loud, being sensitive, refusing to stay quiet — are exactly what got her and her sister out. If you work in child welfare, foster or adopt, or have ever felt written off, this one will stay with you.

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foster care, adoption, CPS, child welfare, child abuse survivor, foster care system, kinship placement, trauma recovery, resilience, advocacy, survivor story, Mississippi, social work