In a perfect world, a child should be able to trust an adult. Children are dependent on adults for healthy food, medical attention, an education, and a safe environment. Children should be able to expect their parents to love them and protect them from any harm. But we don’t live in a perfect world. For my guest today, Michael, he and his siblings lived in a small home in Tampa, Florida. They desperately needed protection from harm.  But the harm was coming from their parents.  It was mostly his mother, Jamie Hicks. And because they were all home schooled, the abuse went undetected.  In our conversation, Michael described some of the things he and the other children experienced from their abusive mother. And their father who did almost nothing to stop it from happening. There was a time when Child Protective Services was called out and investigated the family, but they weren’t able to put the pieces together enough to figure out what was going on in that house. So Michael and the other older children decided to come up with a plan to escape. Warning: this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence against children. Listener discretion is advised.

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