Tia’s father was a cocaine addict and her mother an alcoholic. Her parents were abusing drugs and alcohol as far back as she can remember.  She can’t remember her parents being sober. She remembers, from her childhood, the family bathroom full of blood streaks from when her father would use needles to inject his cocaine. Her mother was never home to care for Tia and her siblings, and Tia’s father would also beat her and her brothers.  From that she acted out, becoming a violent child herself. Her grandmother had her moved from the inner city to the suburbs where an observant teacher took notice that she was being abused by her family.