I’m definitely white. Mine was a classic white-trash-as-seen-on-COPS type situation. I can’t speak to minority experiences with CPS at all, but for a white mom to be stripped of her parental rights...she had to be really, really bad. And she was.

Obviously in an ideal scenario, I would have been born into an amazing, stable bio family without demons that prevented them from being good parents. But if that isn’t an option, having someone want to adopt you (especially a kid like me, who was already 8 and had social problems from being neglected) is a rad backup…

From my perspective, trying really hard and two bucks will get you on the subway. If your best isn’t good enough, it’s not good enough. My mom’s best was certainly not good enough for me and I resent her for her efforts to prevent me from being cared for properly by others when she wasn’t fit, regardless of her…

Usually I see this post too late to comment, but I am enraged by it every week. My mom’s story would sound exactly like this, that she was a good mom and every external force in the world separated us - it was my dad’s fault, it was the neighbor’s fault who reported her, it was my fault for telling my teacher I didn’t…

I’m an adult now with a good life, but I was a child with a mother like the women in these stories. She was stripped of her parental rights by a Midwestern state in the early 90s. I don’t know how much you all know about the Midwest, but for my home state to decide that a woman was not fit to parent, her behavior had…

I think it really depends on your shade. I’m a natural redhead too but I started graying in high school :( :( :( :(

I had an abusive parent who wouldn’t let me sleep, and it was hell. I was on eggshells all the time. I couldn’t fall asleep because I was bracing to be woken up. As an adult, now I relish in doing whatever I want when I want. I nap when I want. I sleep in on weekends if I want. I go to bed with my cats and a movie at…

I would switch how you’re exercising. Maybe a different type of thing would help you feel better while you do it. Personally, when I am trying to drop weight, I swim. Really slowly, and I look terrible in a swimsuit, but nonetheless. In addition to cardio exercise, you spend a lot more calories than when doing dry…

Your key words are “I never had much of a sex drive.” Some of us do.

As a former child with a family situation that was very abusive, albeit only indirectly abusive to myself and my siblings in that we were merely neglected, I don’t care about how sad the mommies are in these stories. If you are raising your children in a home with violence, you are abusing them and you are not being…

You know what this reminds me of? That guy who you really like who suddenly drops off the radar except when he breadcrumbs you with an occasional “hey” or “what’s up?”. He wants to keep you on the hook without doing any actual effort-requiring things to earn your attention. That’s what Ivanka is for liberals.

Yes, I ended a seven year relationship over it. I can’t live in a relationship that only has a friendship component. That’s how I discern my friends from the person I’m in a relationship with. And as far as I can tell, sex is that important to many people.

I would not let it go. I certainly would not ever force someone to do something they weren’t comfortable with, but it would cause me to end the relationship.

I guess my point was that if my boyfriend told me he wasn’t getting his physical needs met and asked me to work on it with him, I wouldn’t say “whatever, I don’t care enough about that to even consider it” and I would listen to him regarding what I could improve. I think it’s weird you brought this problem to him and…

Look, you expressed dissatisfaction and told him how to fix it and he doesn’t want to work on it, and you asked for his blessing to sleep with other people and he said no...so are you just supposed to not have a sex life that involves orgasms with another person anymore???? I would resent the hell out of someone who…

I’ve had a copper IUD for six years and just earlier today I was thinking rather wistfully that I was sad I only have four years left before I have to give it up for a new one. I LOVE it. I wish I could go back in time and get it even earlier.

To put it charitably, it does not seem like your boyfriend is understanding the scope of the stress you are under. Your needs are just as important as his. His need to have sex is not more important than your life stress and separate sex anxiety. In particular, I really do not like that he steam-rolled over your…

You guys, I just got my hair professionally colored for the first time in more than a year and this is so shallow but now I feel invincible. What is your self-indulgent beauty thing that makes you feel like a superhero fairy queen? I want to do all of them.

I live in SoCal. My biggest concern would be shifting gears on hills if I don’t get an automatic. I’m kind of uptight as a person, but other than that I have no need for a practical car. I did when I was moving around a lot, but I think I’m more settled now (or, at least I really hope so. Moving every year or two is…

I have no advice, only sympathy. Dating is T E R R I B L E.