“My mother was pregnant with her seventh child… and when I refused to continue raising her children, she called the police to have me arrested as if I were a criminal.”

My father eventually confessed that I had missed school frequently to stay home and act as a surrogate mother for my siblings. The state allowed me to remain with Aunt Helena, and I finally rediscovered the luxury of having a normal daily routine.

I went back to school and started failing less because I actually had the time and energy to focus on my own future. I found that I still liked to read and that I could laugh at silly things when I wasn’t constantly worrying about a crying infant.

The hardest part was missing my younger brothers, Mateo and little Samuel, because I didn’t leave them out of a lack of love. I saw them on weekends under supervision, and it took me a long time to realize that I was their sister rather than their mother.

The seventh baby was born two months later, a little girl named Faith, and I felt a strange sadness for the burden she might one day carry. My parents were forced into a family support program, and for the first time, my mother had to hear that I didn’t owe her my life.