Support Karissa's Fight for Custody and Safety

My name is Karissa and I am looking for support during this time to get custody of my 13 year old siblings, a bigger place sooner than I would on my own so they can have their own rooms, and also support for my older brother who has been taking care of my 16 year old brother with no support from anyone.

This is our story:

For about 13 years I have been one of the main caregivers in my siblings lives. From the time I was 6-12 and then 15-20 I would have been considered homeless. I always had a roof over my head, but I never knew where I was going to sleep that night. I preferred it when my parents didn’t have their own place and we couch surfed because the abuse and neglect was more discreet. When I lived on Harrison st with my parents Bruce and Jessica it was the worst time of my life. The living conditions in the house was unsafe and unlivable with there being bugs such as roaches and bedbugs. There was mold everywhere in the house. What’s sad is the worst part of that house was the constant neglect and abuse the household suffered from at the hands of my dad. My older brother, moved out at 15 years old due to the severe abuse my dad put him through. He would punch, smack, choke, and hit him leaving marks and bruises. He’s also verbally abused him saying the most disgusting things about him. My brother suffered the abuse he did for sticking up for my mom. Unfortunately that meant he got the bad end of the stick from my dad. My role in the house was protecting and shielding the kids from the neglect and abuse. At 12 years old it was a lot of responsibility and I couldn’t always protect them like I should’ve been able to. The day my brother moved out it was because of a fight him and my dad had. It was so intense my mom peed her pants from being so scared. I took the kids into the room and put a movie on then ran upstairs to his bedroom to see my dad choking and hitting him. I pushed my dad off my brother giving him enough time to run away. My dad then destroyed everything he owned. That was the last day my brother lived with us. With my brother gone my dad’s only punching bag was my mom. My dad would hit her, spit on her, grab her by the hair, drag her on the ground, say the most vile things to her and threaten to kill her and us on a daily basis. My dad is a drug addicted schizophrenic and dealing with his abuse also made my mom turn to drugs as a way to cope. The worst abuse that happened in that household was on January 18th 2013. My dad started beating my mom in front of the kids because he thought my mom was outside talking to another guy. My dad grabbed my mom by the hair dragging her to the ground and started repeatedly punching her in the stomach. My mom was screaming “please stop get off of me you’re going to kill me”. When I finally pushed my dad off of my mom the kids were crying and hysterical. My mom laid on the ground crying in pain. She stayed on the ground unable to get up for quite some time. My dad yelled at everyone to “shut the fuck up” and turned all the lights off in the house. None of us ate dinner that night. She went to the ER that night saying she slipped on ice. They sent her home the same day. She kept saying she was in excruciating pain. The next day I slept over at my cousins house only to be woken up on the 20th at 6am to find out my mom was in emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen. During the 2 weeks my mom was fighting for her life and recovering I wasn’t able to see or talk to her because I was at home taking care of the kids with my older brother. My dad never checked in on us. My mom often cried at night to me about this saying she thought she was going to die that day. She put a lot on me as a kid. From the time I was 12-15 I was my mom’s support system. In those 3 years I lived on Harrison the abuse and neglect we all suffered from the hands of my dad was inhumane. He often threatened to kill us all and burn the house down. I have gotten caught in the cross fire of his abuse towards my mom like he would miss when throwing objects at her and I’d get hit instead. He would destroy the house in his rage by dumping out ash trays, dumping out food on the ground so we couldn’t eat it, dumping gallons of milk onto the floor. He did this so he could watch my mom clean it up. At 15 years old I decided for my mental health and education I had to move out. At the time I felt like I needed to stay home to protect the kids and my mom from the abuse that went on. I was scared to leave them alone with him. When I moved out my parents would often tell me and my brother that they had 4 kids like we didn’t exist. They still collected benefits for us (Foodstamps and housing) and never gave us anything. No Foodstamps. No love. No support. Their lying and scamming eventually caught up with them when the WI dept of revenue seen me and my brother were working adults. My parents never reported it so they got kicked off housing and lost Food-stamp benefits for us for it. But still my brother and I suffered because they couldn’t own up to the truth about us not living there. My brother and I have been paying off 10,000 since 2019 and we still owe $4000. Before they got evicted from Harrison st my dad punched my mom so hard in the face he broke her nose. Blood covered the living room. This happened right in front of my 4 younger siblings. My cousin and I picked my mom up and took her to the hospital where she told them she was hit by a football playing catch with my brothers. This was a traumatic experience that they all remember. When they got evicted from the house with no one to turn to they moved into an abandoned house on Augusta st. There was no running water in the house and the living conditions were horrific to say the least. They lived in that house for almost 6 years. The abuse continued there with food being taken away as punishment, constant verbal and mental abuse to the kids, and mental and physical abuse to my mom.

I’m not making this for sympathy or anything like that. My siblings and i are traumatized, withdrawn, block out memories of our lives, and are hurting. My underage siblings deserve loving homes

The respect I have for my brother for opening up his home to the kids and my parents for almost a year with no support and keeping my 16 year old brother during this time is like no other. Especially given the abuse he endured as a child.

Right now I am trying to get custody back of my 13 year old siblings who I was forced to hand back to my parents due to me not being their legal guardian.