- [Host] Cheryl, we're here in Burlington, Vermont.
You're homeless, pregnant, couch surfing.
Tell me about it.
- So I had an apartment
and I was dating this gentlemen
that was a little abusive.
And he got removed from the residence
and then I couldn't afford the rental unit any longer
so I moved into the shelter.
Then I met a guy at the shelter
where I was staying
and I thought he was a good guy.
We got into a relationship
and the guy ended up sexually assaulting me.
And I didn't know that he was addicted to crack.
And so I confronted him about the assault
and about his crack use.
He decided to choose to continue to smoke crack.
Tried to convince me that when you're in a relationship
you owe somebody sex which is B.S.
And then I decided to leave the relationship
after my son was born.
He's gonna be a year in October.
I don't have custody of him because the state said
that he would be in danger because I'm homeless.
So he's with my family, they've adopted him.
And I don't get to see him.
I miss him terribly.
And so-- - That's gotta be horrible.
- [Cheryl] I got another apartment through a guy
that I've known him and his wife for 15 years,
this guy Brian.
And I was living there
and he didn't tell the landlord I was living there.
He works for Omega, the landscapers.
And I guess the house they had
was a known drug house for crack.
I didn't know that.
And the doors got kicked in before I moved in.
And no one told me that about the house.
That the house was being watched or anything.
So I move into the house thinking,
great this a great opportunity.
$500 a month, no deposit, you know?
I thought it was great.
I had a great roommate I thought, you know?
These little things started happening.
He started not having any money ever.
He started eating my food.
He started asking me for soap.
And he just didn't ever have anything.
So then I was about to get a washer and dryer purchased
when I had saved up the money because that's,
you know, I got a bed first.
And I got some stuff.
And then I was gonna get a washed and dryer.
And yeah, that didn't work out.
The next day, as I was coming to town
to purchase everything, he told me,
"You need to pack your stuff and get out.
"The landlord said that there's been
"too much heat at the house."
And the heat that was coming to the house
was him bringing the crack dealer over to the house.
And he lied to the landlord and said it was me.
So I called the landlord and left a message
and said listen, if you test him,
he will test positive for crack cocaine.
You need to figure out who you're renting to.
So the landlord got mad
and now the landlord knows that he's a crackhead
and hasn't booted him out of the residence.
And instead, I'm being forced out of the residence
with no where to go.
Lost my futon that I just bought.
Lost my bed, lost my cloths, lost everything that I had.
And so now I am with a new somebody
and I am pregnant and uh--
- [Host] So you didn't spend any time on the street?
- Um, yeah I spent a few nights on the street.
When I was 18 and 19 I camped out on Rock Point.
I'm 33 now and that was during,
it was 90-something, it was an ice storm.
And I stayed on Rock Point through the whole ice storm.
That was like forever ago
and I actually got beat
while I was dealing with living out there.
- So what's it like couch surfing?
- Um, well, I don't like it because I feel like
I'm a waste of space.
I feel very depressed.
You can't come and go as you like.
You have to be on their schedule and their time.
And it just sucks.
I mean I wanna have something that's my own.
And from the start, my life goes way way back
to how I'm homeless and in this situation.
I was in state custody as a child.
- [Host] You were in foster care?
- And the state, like the foster home,
was humiliating and abusive to me.
And as studies have shown today,
research and everything that they know, psychologists know,
children that have been sexually assaulted at a young age
need to get treatment as soon as possible.
You need to deal with it.
My foster parents told me "It was all just a dream.
"It wasn't real."
That it never happened to me
and they never got me treatment.
Then to deal with it I overheard the parents.
I overheard all the adults,
'cause me and the other oldest girl
would sneak around and eavesdrop on the adult conversations.
And they would talk about all of us kids
and they would say each case
and they knew that I was really messed up
and traumatized from the sexual assault
that happened to me.
And they did nothing.
All they did to condition me and make sure
that I could be prepared for the world was,
she used to have me stand at one end of the driveway
and one of the kids would stand at the other end
and I had to yell as loud as I could.
And if I couldn't yell loud enough
and if they couldn't hear me,
I had to wear these cloths that had a little tag
that said foster child on it. - Oh my gosh!
- [Cheryl] And I went to Colchester
so kids were pretty mean in Colchester.
- [Host] I'm so sorry.
- They made fun of you and picked on you.
"You're wearing rags," you know?
In a yuppy school.
So then that was part of the humiliation that happened.
Then she would make me, like I couldn't laugh,
I couldn't cry, I couldn't show emotion.
Like my body was numb. - Wow.
- [Cheryl] What I went through was horrific.
Like I was sexually assaulted everyday,
multiple times a day from the time I was born
until I was 7 years old, maybe 8.
And it was various different people.
I didn't know who to trust.
I was completely so scared.
And I've talked to at least nine different lawyers
and they all said if I had $7,000 retainer fee
then I could sue the state for what they did to me
and possibly get my rights back to my son.
They didn't take my rights.
I signed over them for adoption
just because I didn't want them to take my rights
in case, future children because that looks bad.
And because I wanted to do the right thing for my son
and I really do honestly love him.
And if my situation having nothing
is gonna put him in jeopardy.
I love him to death and I want the best for him
and he deserves it because he is just an innocent child.
And my mother went through depression when she got raped.
I witnessed my mom being raped when I was little.
- [Host] So what's your future like?
I mean, briefly what's your future like?
- I'm not really sure at this point.
Right now I'm hoping to find part time work.
I'm looking for an apartment.
And I'm not sure, I don't know.
- [Host] If you had three wishes what would they be?
- Well, the first one, I would probably wish for my son
to not die because he had open heart surgery
and he has a huge heart problem.
So I would wish for him to live and just be happy.
And I would probably wish that nobody in the world
ever has to suffer the way I have.
I don't wish that on anyone, nobody.
Not even the people that did that to me.
And then my third wish would probably be
that nobody has to be as hungry as I am right this minute.
- [Host] We'll help you out with some food.
Thank you very much for talking to me.