A Journal of Writings - SABES

MY BROTHER STACEY NEGRI
Stacey Negri
Families are apart of everyone’s lives. Problems within a family are common. One of the
problems in a family can be siblings. The way they fight and argue. When siblings fight
they may get in trouble and if there are a lot of problems it may result in getting taking
away. My brother caused conflict in my family. He would fight with siblings, other kids at
school and my mother until he was taken away.
It was like my brother had a rage inside of him that he couldn’t control. When my brother
got older he went to school. He would get into fights with the other children. He would not
do his school work. It got so bad that he got send home. My mother didn’t know what to
do. When the next child came along things got worse. I was the next child. My older
brother used to hit me and takes things from me. He got really out of control at the age of
10. The school called DSS and said my mother wasn’t a good mother. So they had to come
to our home and check things out. D.S.S decided that my mom and my brother should be in
therapy. My mom just wanted to have my brother go but they wouldn’t let that happen they
said it had to be both of them so they both went.
My brother got taken away. He would just pretend things were ok in front of the doctors
but as soon as they left the doctor office he would act out. My mother would tell the
doctors but they didn’t believe her they thought that it was my mothers fault the way he
was acting. DSS decided to take my brother away from our family and put him into foster
care. We didn’t see him for a while. Then when he was 13 they let him visit for the day. He
was very different he seemed more messed up. He was very distant. When his visit was
over he was screaming “please don’t let them take me” but it was time for him to go. It was
very sad.
When he came the next time for a visit he got into a fight with my mother and he broke her
back. My mother was very sad. She had to learn all over again how to walk. She had to
have us help her with easy tasks such as doing dishes or sweeping floors. It was very hard
for her. My uncle came to check up on us and to take us to school. I think it was the hardest
thing my mom had to do. Let my brother go. Learning how to walk was easy compared to
letting go of your own child.
I never saw my brother again until he was 18. It was a sad thing he was hooked on drugs
and alcohol. My mother let him stay with us for a while. When he would sleep he would
make a moaning sound. It would wake us up. He would fight with all of us kids. It was like
he hated us because we got to stay with my mother and he didn’t. When things got to much
because of the drugs my mother had to ask him to leave. He got mad and said that my
mother didn’t love him and then he left.
The next time we saw him he was thirty-three. He was living with a girl in Maine. They
were planning to get married and he asked my sister and me to be a part of the wedding.
My sister didn’t want to but I decided to be part of it. He had a hard life and was still
hooked on drugs. He was an alcoholic. He was very emotional when he drank. He just
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