Our former residents hold strong memories of the time they lived at Children’s Receiving Home and their stories are inspirational to both current residents, staff and our community partners.
I am writing you this letter to thank you for helping me in a time of my life that I needed it the most.
I had come to the Children’s Receiving Home with my brother and sister. You gave us a place to feel safe at, and feel like we could talk about everything that was going on.
The people that worked in the room that I was in were amazing. They made me feel like it wasn’t all my fault, and that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
I am Christine Briceno and I am an alumnus of Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. I am a mom, active in my community, and have had a nearly 20 year career with the State of California. Recently I accepted a CEA position as a Director at the California State Teachers Retirement System. I was humbled and so grateful for this opportunity that I began to reflect on the journey that had brought me here.
It was a beautiful June day in 1974. I was 12 years old, and I still remember it so clearly. Having just graduated from the sixth grade, my friends and I were busy planning our summer vacation and preparing to enter Junior High. There was much to anticipate, a new school, new teachers and new friends. Then suddenly, my world was turned upside down. My life was forever changed the day my 15 year old sister Gale finally had enough and decided to turn my parents in for physical child abuse.
Hi, my name is Jennifer Green. I was a resident of the Sacramento Children’s Receiving Home from 1985 -1986. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a pivotal changing point in my life. My story begins at the age of five. My father was an alcoholic, and while he was drunk, he would use me as a punching bag, while my mother stood by and did nothing. The abuse started as physical beatings, and eventually became emotional and mental as I grew older. I lived in constant fear and was in survival mode all of the time.
Imagine being 14 years old and realizing that you have nowhere to live and you have no family that wants you. That’s where I found myself when I was taken to the Children’s Receiving Home.
