Help Rebuild Lives After Adoption Trauma

In November of 2018 my sister and I were adopted from Ukraine into the United States. I was around 14 years old, so I remembered my whole life and biological family in Ukraine. We were adopted into a very physically and mentally abusive family. Once I turned 18, I made the hard decision of moving out and being on my own as a senior in high school. On my adoptive parents’ terms, I had to have a relationship with them in order to have any contact with my younger sister. Which I did, of course.

Having contact with my Ukrainian family is a blessing. On a random Tuesday I had received a call from one of my sisters from Ukraine telling me that due to so many bombings - my other sister passed away. On top of the pain and grief, I was asked to help fund the funeral and other services. I have been helping my Ukrainian family since the war started, so this wasn’t something that was new to me. It was a challenge but I couldn’t say no to this. This wasn’t my family’s fault and they have been struggling to stay employed a months at that point.

In February of 2025, my younger (17 years old) sister ran away. She ran to my then apartment and I took her in with no questions asked. Since that night we have gone through many legal battles and mental issues fighting for my sister’s right to a safe place. We didn’t win the court but the judge didn’t make my sister go back to their house. The DCS did, however, tell us that we move into a 2 bedroom apartment as soon as possible. Living paycheck to paycheck - moving into a new apartment seemed impossible. After some discussion with my boyfriend, we decided that our only option was to take out a loan against his 401K. It helped us with the deposit, and a few other bills. 

That’s when Hannah reached out offering to help. I couldn’t believe that there was even one human being that would be willing to do this. Simply her asking if we need assistance has been such a blessing. Knowing we’re not alone and there is good out there. Staying strong for my younger sister has been so so hard, but being vulnerable like I am now seems even harder.

Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for caring.