Steps

The steps she sat on

Waiting for the air to warm, 

For the wisp of the despair 

To disappear 

As the voice increased 

The pressure of the hallway, to the top floor 

Increased

She could not raise these steps 

To the top floor

Then she was dragged 

In the next few days, she would be too 

Again 

And then drugged 

And all that was needed and wanted was help

To talk 

Now, if the actual steps of reporting abuse are quoted to be a mandated reporter

To man date the situation 

Handled with record. 

Quote, “Mandated reporters are people required by law to report suspected or known instances of abuse” (1). 

How did two to three of these reporters conclude to contact authority figures with sedation tactics? 

And said, foster parent 

Whom the child gave awareness of the physical attack 

Stated why she could not go back 

Ended up with more children. 

Records would show she housed children with disabilities 

As I watched him tiptoe and stumble around her. 

But that was just his nature. 

And I knew her conditions 

Of instability all too similar 

From what I was originally extracted from

For years after, I remained silent, not knowing the system was actually, maybe, possibly, supposedly by chance

Tryin to give us a chance. 

At what chance?

Statistically, children are not statistical gambles

Although facts show over half of Hartford Female Incarceration were once unloved, unprotected children. 

Attempting to protect themselves around grown individuals with paper and rules that they do not obey. 

My silence protected me once, but what about the kids now and later and later. 

For the futures to come, what is to remain if we keep takin chances?

     References

National Association of Mandated Reporters. (2021, August 2). What is a 

    mandated reporter? National Association of Mandated Reporters. 

    https://namr.org