S E4: Difficult Upbringings

Hunter speaks with two strangers about their painful upbringings.
Meet this episode's strangers:
- Lisa Marie shares what it was like to hear the words, “We are going to have to put you into foster care,” at sixteen, and to be separated from her much younger brother, David. She talks about the memory holes trauma left behind, the rage that followed years later, and how she kept people at a distance for most of her early adulthood. Lisa Marie reflects on the shame of feeling marked by foster care, poverty, and her parents’ substance use, and how writing her story helped her reclaim it and let go of the “scarlet letter” she felt she wore.
- Adriana, who became a mother at seventeen and found herself raising her baby in a women's shelter after being rejected by her family. She describes the shelter as an unexpected village of women supporting each other through crisis, and how that experience cemented her resolve never to ask for help again.
Topics:
- Childhood trauma and its impact on identity
- Navigating the foster care system as a teen
- Survival and sibling bonds after separation
- Healing from parental abandonment and neglect
- Transforming destructive rage into radical empathy
- Reclaiming personal stories through writing
- Teen motherhood and the NYC shelter system
- Finding community and support in shelters
- Breaking generational cycles of hardship
- Building resilience and strength for children
Chapters:
00:00:00 The parents we didn't choose
00:01:24 Entering the foster care system at sixteen
00:02:55 How childhood trauma creates memory holes
00:04:13 The pain of being separated from my brother
00:07:30 Using rage to protect myself from abandonment
00:12:11 Shedding the scarlet letter through writing
00:19:12 Choosing peace and forgiveness over rage
00:20:43 Anonymous notes on parental regret and support
00:22:10 Raising a child in a New York City shelter
00:26:38 Finding a supportive village in the Bronx
00:32:07 Using the shelter as a bridge to a career
00:44:16 Breaking the cycle and shaping the future
Stories from a Stranger is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions in partnership with Higher Ground and AND Media. Music by Jackie Miclau.
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