Making a baby bottle isn’t easy. One scoop for every 1⁄2 bottle or? I forgot. I want to wake mommy up but she came in stumbling. She told me “When you see mommy coming in like she can’t walk, take her to her room. And don’t wake me up!” So I just put one scoop in the bottle and shake it until it is in water form. I keep telling myself how this isn’t fair. I am a seven-year-old girl, who gets up when the sun gets up.

These words were written by 17-year-old Roselyne about her childhood. She and her younger sisters bounced between their grandmother and their substance-abuser mother. As the oldest, Rosie had to raise her siblings and take care of her mother.

IEJF grantee Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) took on the girls’ case. They arranged for Rosie’s’ father and wife to obtain custody of the children.

This ended up being the best decision for her. At her father’s home, she no longer had to be caretaker. She could just be a kid.

She’s now excelling at a charter high school, where she has a great group of supportive friends, and she’s even looking at colleges. Legal aid helped open up doors for her that she never would have dreamed possible.