I was a last child, the only girl and the other were 3 brothers. My dad was irish and drank heavily throughout our upbinging as children. It was the thing to do after coming back from a hard day on the building site. He wasn't violent though, which I have to be thankful for, however he was not very responsible either. My mum was very neglectful, the house was always filthy and our clothes were disgustingly dirty, underwear was hardly ever changed and I always had a case of headlice. Brothers were always getting into trouble for stealing and police often came to raid our house for stolen property and drugs. I remember being 8 years old and having police raid my bedroom, ripping open my teddies and destroying my room looking for drugs. It was terrible going to school as the area I was living in was becoming very middle class. I thank God that the angles where looking over me to protect me against any sexual abuse, there were several times when I can very close to it. I have since moved on in my life as an adult and have a lovely family of my own, however, the effects of my upbringing has been longlasting and I am very withdrawn and striving to pick up on all the messed up education from childhood in my adult life as a result of it.