While most kids her age were being tucked into bed by a loving parent,
13-year-old Julia was searching for a warm, dry place to sleep.

If she was lucky, that would mean spending the night undiscovered on someone’s back porch—or getting an hour or two of sleep undisturbed in a bus shelter.

But Julia did have a home—she just wasn’t welcome in it.

All her life, Julia can remember struggling to deal with her mother’s mental illness. One day her mother would beat her until she bled, and then the next come to her childlike and sobbing for forgiveness.

It took a toll on Julia, and as she grew older, she became increasingly distrustful of people and weighed down by anxiety and fear.

Then one night, long after Julia had gone to bed, her mother stormed into her bedroom, throwing on the lights and demanding that Julia get dressed to leave. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Julia obeyed—too afraid of the anger in her mother’s eyes to do otherwise.

Julia’s mother threw her out of the house that night, and though this young girl pounded on the door and screamed for her mother…she was never let back inside again.

For two months, she wandered the streets completely alone in the world, too afraid of her mother to try to go back home. She was eager for the familiar surroundings at school, but her classes were so big that her teachers never noticed how sullen, thin and tired she began to look. Soon, she was missing whole weeks of school.

“I knew I had to do something,” Julia said. “I found out about Mercy Home while on the computers at the library. I didn’t know anything about it really, but knew I had nothing to lose.”

With an enduring spirit and strength beyond her years, Julia brought herself to Mercy Home the very next day. We took her in immediately, and though her progress has been slow, she is steadily learning to trust again. She has a long road ahead of her before she can find healing from her painful past—but friends like you can help get her there. If you would consider sharing a gift to help heal the wounds of kids like Julia, our Mercy Home family would be forever grateful.

Every child deserves a Merry Christmas.

Please note: Because we care deeply about protecting the privacy of our boys and girls, we have changed the name used in this story, as well as certain identifying details.