My name is Suzuka. I am currently a sophomore in college and studying special education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d like to briefly share about my past with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I used to live with my mother and my younger brother who had disability. My role at home was to take care of my brother, running errands, cooking, laundry and so on. My mother always insisted me to get good grades in school. As my mother wished, I entered one of the good high schools, but I was no longer able to manage my role at home and my high school life. So the school nurse contacted the child guidance center and I was placed in temporary care. It was January of my sophomore year of high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was in the child protection facility for 7-8 months, which is a short period of time, but I hope you will get some idea of what it’s like, as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing that troubled me when I entered the child protection facility was the words \u201cyou can choose whatever you like.\u201d These words would make any normal child happy, but they actually confused me. I was so used to being conscious about how my mother would react, so I could not choose anything at my will. When I was placed in the facility, I was taken to a shop to buy bedding and pajamas, and I was told, \u201cyou can choose whatever you like\u201d. However, I just had no idea what I liked, and only thought I could have was \u201cI must find as the cheapest ones as possible.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another problem I encountered was having no set schedule for the day. At home, it was too natural for me to have a certain time to wake up, have meal and go to bed, to help my brother who had intellectual disability. In fact many people have gone to bed late sometimes because of work or homework, or eat late to wait for a family member to come home. At my facility, all the children from preschoolers to high school students lived in the same space, and it was normal for us to eat, take shower or go to bed at different times each day. When things didn\u2019t turn out on time, I used to think, \u201cit was because I didn\u2019t help with dinner\u201d or \u201cI\u2019d be punished for going to bed so early.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of those things were troubles for me when I first moved into the facility. But now I am grateful for the experiences that I had. Being away from home, I realized that life in facility was far more \u201cnormal\u201d than life at home. Children have rights to choose for themselves, like- \u201cwhat kind of clothes I want to wear\u201d \u201cwhich cartoon character I like\u201d or \u201cwhat color I love.\u201d I wasn\u2019t guaranteed these rights until I was 17. Choosing something that would not offend my mother\u2019s feeling was my first priority. I had too little experience in making my own choice. As a result, I was a high school student who\u2019d be confused by someone telling me \u201cyou can choose whatever you like.\u201d Now I live by myself and if I hadn\u2019t experienced living in a facility, I\u2019d still be obsessed with the time and schedule of the day- for example, what time I am supposed to wake up and go to bed. -I’d do all of these things not for my own sake, but because otherwise I\u2019d assume I would get scolded. I felt that I had no choice other than that in order to live. However, in reality, you can continue to live even if you stay up late or oversleep. That may trouble me, but no one would get mad at me for that anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My sincere request to the staff at child protection facility is to assure children to have a \u201cnormal life\u201d as much as possible. \u201cNormal\u201d is a vague word but this is something that you wouldn\u2019t be even conscious because it\u2019s so normal for you. For example, the light is on when you come home; you are called by name; someone buys you books and stationaries to study; you\u2019ve watched the most popular cartoon, or you\u2019ve been to an amusement park. These are not explicitly listed as things should be \u201cguaranteed\u201d for children but there are many things that are necessary for children to experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children like me, who didn\u2019t know what \u201cnormal\u201d life is, may not know that they have choice to wear something other than hand-me-down clothes or that they have right to say \u201cI wanna go to movie during summer vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be wonderful if children can learn, through the interaction with other children and staff, to know the options and choices that may not be familiar to them, and to be able to express their needs or things they want adults to do for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think this is an opportunity for you to change the future of the children\u2019s lives. I would be happy if you can be someone stands for children\u2019s bright future and support children to live happily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My name is Suzuka. I am currently a sophomore in college and studying special education.
\nI\u2019d like to briefly share about my past with you.
\nI used to live with my mother and my younger brother who had disability. My role at home was to take care of my brother, running errands, cooking, laundry and so on. My mother always insisted me to get good grades in school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,21,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-child-welfare-in-the-us-and-japan","category-mental-health-and-foster-youth","category-normalcy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hi.myvoiceourstory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/IMG_5626.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padNcG-rw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":894,"url":"https:\/\/hi.myvoiceourstory.org\/child-welfare-in-the-us-and-japan\/894\/","url_meta":{"origin":1706,"position":0},"title":"YN Speech 2017 Summer","author":"ifcayouth","date":"8\u6708 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Everyone. 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