Hi there,

I belong to AA and I have had 2 sponsee's, both teenage girls that came from a residential facility (girls go to this treatment facility for about 6-9 months to get sober and then go back home).

My first sponsee was/is so special to me. She was courageous and smart and full of love even though at 16 she had been through more than I had seen in my 42 years. She is still doing well today.

My second sponsee was 15 when I first met her - again a life of terrible events. She was with a foster family when I met her that was in the midst of adopting her. When she went back home I would still meet her in a neighboring town to pick her up and bring her to our home group meeting each Saturday. Eventually her foster mom started working on Sat. and she stopped coming to the meeting. Unfortunately, her mom never took her to any other meetings either.

She called me about a month ago and said she was close to going out - I tried my best to talk her through it. She didn't want me to call her house because she didn't want her mom to think she was having trouble (she had called me from a friends cell phone at school).

She called me three days later and started the call with "I'm so high". I tried to see if she wanted help and she basically said no, she didn't give a sh**. So I had to end the call and tell her that I couldn't talk to her when she was high, but when she got sober if she wanted help to call me. I didn't hear from her.

Yesterday, I met with the Executive Director of this girls treatment center because they are looking for a member for the board of directors and I wanted to apply. We talked about how great the first sponsee was doing and then I said that I also sponsored this other girl.

Apparently they said about a month ago her parents put her in the hospital and have now transferred her down to Pennsylvania to a lock down facility and they want her there for a year! I asked if she did something illegal and they said no, but the parents think there is something seriously wrong. The said they had issues with the parents. So I said they just had the adoption go through in February and the director said yes, and she didn't know why they adopted her. She again said she had major issues with the adoptive family.

I'm so sad for this little girl. Her mom is a crack addict, her brothers sexually abused her and her family is under restraining orders not to contact her. She has been with the adoptive family since she was 11 and she is now 16 and now they are abandoning her.

I'm grateful she has been part of my life and all I can do is pray that she will find her way and that someone will be there to help her.

Tranquility