This reminds me of how the younger kids in our family got neglected when all the problems hit, and to this day, the kids "acting out" still get all the attention. We're all adults now age 40+, this dynamic is still going on, and my poor mother is still trying to retire from raising the same batch of kids.
On the brighter side, you make me think of my two friends who work with kids of incarcerated parents, to overcome the anger, rejection and shame, isolation at school, and self-hatred they too often inherit from situations they didn't cause and have no control over. It inspires me to think of their success stories, of kids making it through school and going to college instead of landing in jail as their teachers expected them to. My friends started a support group of these kids mentoring each other, and it has changed lives. When I see the smile on these kids faces, I think of Marilyn crying for joy for them, every day with hugs for her little "babies."
Smiley High grad who beat odds wins national award - Houston Chronicle
If these kids can make it when everyone had it against them to end up in jail like their parents, this gives me hope anyone can overcome. We just need to set up support and people can figure out how to beat the odds and issues against them. People are more powerful than we think, and it's a shame we beat people down instead of lifting each other up, like these kids found a way to do for each other.