9/10 of a Whole

Joshua Paul Martin- D.O.B: 5/21/87

Rebecca Marie Martin- D.O.B: 6/11/88

Pauline Marie Martin-D.O.B: 6/11/88

Daniel William Martin-D.O.B: 7/17/89

William Paul Martin JR (Billy)- D.O.B: 6/14/91

Samuel Elijah Martin-D.O.B: 7/5/93

Noah Jacob Martin-D.O.B: 6/23/94

Joseph David Martin (Jo Jo)-D.O.B: 2/1/96

Jessie James Martin-D.O.B: 7/21/97

Matthew Thomas Martin-D.O.B: 6/19/00

Ten Sibling, nine pieces of my one whole....

September 27, 1997- We were all home from school that day. My mother was home making lunch which consisted of tortilla's and butter. The baby was crying and I was sitting on the couch trying to console him. I was singing to him "twinkle twinkle little star...." A loud knock came on the door, and then another. My mom asked me to answer it, so I got up, carrying my two month old little brother and went to the door, and opened it. There stood a really tall lady with long blonde hair, holding a briefcase and clipboard. She looked down at me with questioning eyes, an asked if my mom or dad were home, I told her just a second. I closed the door and went running into the kitchen area and told my mom some lady was at the door asking for her. She told us kids to go hide in the one room we had there, and she would take care of it. So we went. We could hear muffled voices, and it sounded like more then one voice. All nine of us were huddled up in the closet in a little corner, not sure about what was going on. Minutes felt like hours that seemed to slowly creep by. Then the bedroom door was opened and in stepped two police officers. At that very moment we knew, we knew what was going to happen, they were going to take us away. This wasn't the first time it had happened. They told all of us it was ok that we could come out. So we did, me still clinging to the baby, and my two year old brother Joseph (Jo-Jo) clinging to my leg. we went outside, and they started asking us questions, we didn't know what to say to some of them. I guess they were just keeping us occupied while they waited for the van from the Shalimar Center to come get us. When it came time to leave, it seemed that every single one of us had a break down. We loved our parents despite what they had done to us, it was the only home we knew. They separated us, some went in the van, and some went in the police cars. I remember one thing from when we were pulling out of the parking lot of the South Union Motel, I remember my dad had not been home yet, and we didn't get to say goodbye, but as we were leaving. I saw him pull up to our room, on his bike.

When we arrived at the Shalimar Center, they put us all together in a room, and one by one they gave us something to eat. I was sitting there with Jo Jo on my lap, and Jessie in my arms, waiting to see what was going to happen next. A lady came in and said she needed to take the baby, so that she could examine him and make sure everything was ok with him, I was very reluctant in giving him to her. Little did I know that was the last time I would see him again. One by one they started coming for the little ones. They told me that children under five years of age were not allowed to stay at the Shalimar Center. I was devastated, I didn't understand why they were taking all of my brothers from me. I was the one who took care of them, I fed them, bathed them, played with them, and I even slept with them. I mothered them, because my own mother couldn't do it. Yes, I was a little girl myself, but I loved them as if they were my own children. Why was this happening to me, what had I done that was so wrong that I was being punished like my mother and father. That first night there at the Shalimar Center was rough, we came in as nine but by that night there were only four of us left there. I didn't even get to see my brothers Joshua, or Daniel until the next day, boys were on one side and girls were on the other. They put me and my sister Pauline together in a room, and told us we could see the boys in the morning. When we got up the next day, the boys were gone, they had already left to a foster home, all that was left there was Pauline and I. We stayed there for about a moth until we moved in to our first foster home. We started having visits with our parents and siblings. I remember sitting down at the welfare office looking out the window waiting for them to show up. Throughout that first year, our parents came maybe twice or three times to see us. If was heart wrenching to sit there and realize your parents just didn't have the time of day or care to come see you. Eventually they changed the visits to only sibling visits. Sibling visits consisted of Me, Pauline, Josh, Daniel, Billy, Samuel, Noah, and Jo Jo. Jessie had already been adopted. Matthew wasn't born until 2000, we had already been in the system for three years, I got to see him once, they let us have a visit with him when he was one month old, for an hour. He was already in the process of being adopted. The sibling visits started to fade away. Samuel and Jo Jo were being adopted, they were about three and five when we last saw them, I believe that was in 1999. I'm not sure why the sibling visits stopped but they did. Noah and Billy were together, being adopted we saw them again in 2000, but that was the last time for a long time.

Fast forward to 2006. One day our lawyer called and said that one of our brothers was being adopted and that if we wanted to come to the court hearing we could. So we went not sure who it would be and there stood Billy. He was fourteen years old now, and he looked happy. I remember standing there and crying. I remember hearing the judge declare him Brandon Ian Serrels as of that day. I have to admit I was heart broken. Later on that year I got a phone call. There was a lady on the other end and she asked me if I was Rebecca Martin, I said yes, she asked me If i had a brother named Noah, and I told her yes, and she said well i'm his mother. We have been looking for you for a long time. The court wasn't sure who you were, they thought maybe his mother because he would often scream for you and beg for you. they didn't know I was his sister. He was about five the last time I saw him, So we set up a weekend were they were to come down and I could see him. I had never been so scared or nervous in my life, I wasn't sure why I felt that way. There he was though, I saw him, I hugged him and he was twelve years old, but still looking like the little brother I saw so long ago. To this day we are still in contact and he is nineteen years old. By the time I was eighteen years old, I knew where Pauline, Joshua, Daniel, Billy, and Noah were. The day I turned eighteen I started looking for the others, I needed to find them.

On July 18th 2013, I got a Facebook friend request from a kid named Joe David Stephens. I had no idea who he was, but I accepted his friend request so I could see if I knew him. He sent me a message saying "you can't tell anyone but how is my big sister doing?" I was stunned I had no idea what he was talking about, soI wrote him back and said "Who is this?" He said "Joseph David Stephens, formally known as Joseph David Martin." I have to admit I dropped my phone on the floor at that moment, and just started balling my eyes out. I have been looking for him for so long, and all of a sudden there he was, and I just couldn't hold the tears back any longer. I remembered that Jo Jo and Samuel had been adopted together so I asked him where was Samuel, and He said he was working on a farm in Wyoming and doing well. Both now seventeen years old and Twenty Years old. I remember the first thing I did after finding out, I called my best friend, because I knew she would be just as happy as I was that this had happened.