How Dre'Sha Brown is breaking a cycle by raising her kids

Dre’Sha Brown was only 2 years old when her mom’s boyfriend kicked her down the steps. She was 7 when her aunt adopted her and her older sister to give the girls a more stable life. And about 14 when she went back into foster care because her aunt could no longer manage her behavior. Brown doesn’t have any memories of the broken arm, fractured ribs and hemorrhaging eyes she suffered at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend. But she remembers missing her mom and the ache of abandonment. She remembers moving again and again to different foster homes, sometimes refusing to unpack because she figured she wouldn’t stay long. Those memories have shaped Brown’s life and have made the 22-year-old determined that her own three children won’t ever have to endure what she did.