AUDIENCE: People who like to read biographies.
             PURPOSE: To inform people of what life for the less fortunate can be like.
             Being one of seven children and being left by both parents had a huge impact on the way my mother's life has unfolded.
             In her early years, before the age of five, she was one of seven children running wild in the streets of Broadmeadows. Her father was in the military and was not home very much. Her mother, now she can't really remember to much about her, however she can remember the abuse and neglect that was dealt out in her first years of life. She has many reminders of those days, she has a burn on top of her right arm that was caused by hot water spilling over her. She also had stitches in the back of her head after a bad fall. She was stealing from the local supermarket, to this day she doesn't really know how she got away with it maybe no one thought a five-year-old would do such a thing. She was constantly in trouble in one way or another.
             One day during her first year at school all of her family came home for lunch only to find a neighbour waiting to tell them they were not allowed to go into their own home, this did not make much sense to her at the time. She later found out her mother had separated from her father and had taken up with a man with criminal record. He skipped bail taking her mother with him; she sold everything of any value to neighbours the night before. The money from this was their way to escape. They ran off leaving seven children from the ages of 15 months to 11 years, she never saw of heard from her again until after she was married. The police became involved and they became wards of the state. They were then all taken to Alambi a place for temporary care, they were there for about 4 months. During this time she was very sick and was sent to Fairfield infectious disease hospital with
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