Tanisha Bankston

She lost her inner voice as a child when she was raped, molested, and manipulated by older men and forced to have sex and do things no child should have to experience.

Teen mom of two:

• I was just a kid having kids. I managed to still graduate high school with two children.
• I had my first child at the tender ages of fourteen years old. I was in the six grade. I had no idea what I was doing. I lost my childhood at a very early age.

Motherless child:

• My mother was in and out of my life growing up as a child. I was taken from my mom at a young age and placed in the custody of my aunt. I was failed and not protected.

Fatherless child:

• I remember my aunt adopting me. My dad would come and get me and keep me for two weeks at a time. I remember being afraid of my dad because I was afraid of men because I had been raped and I thought all men were the same. I became muted, voiceless and shy. My daddy gave up one me when I became pregnant at thirteen. I never lived with him ever again.