Girl Unbroken

Separation and Foster Care Abuse

Regina Calcaterra initially kept her sister Rosie’s experiences private to protect her. After readers asked about Rosie’s welfare, the sisters decided to share Rosie's perspective. The narrative follows the hardships Rosie and her brother Norman faced after their mother, Cookie, took them away from their older siblings.

At only eight years old, Rosie had already moved fifteen times. Her mother had abandoned them months earlier in a drab house they called the Toad House. When Cookie finally returned, she brutally beat Rosie’s older sister, Gi. This violence caught the attention of a teacher, leading social services to intervene. The siblings were split up because foster families preferred younger children like Rosie and Norman. As they prepared to leave, Gi packed Rosie’s favorite board games into a trash bag, but the social worker demanded the games be left behind.

Rosie and Norman were dropped off at a dilapidated Victorian house owned by the Callahans. Mrs. Callahan and her daughter Becky viewed the children as a burden, referring to them as rent-a-kids or foster things. The children were locked in a wood-paneled bunkroom from eight at night until six in the morning. Because they were barred from using the indoor bathroom at night, they had to use a plastic bucket in the closet, which they emptied in the backyard each morning. When Rosie and Norman refused to eat slimy liver on their first night, Mrs. Callahan withheld meals for a week. In a quiet act of defiance, the other foster children began sneaking bits of food under Rosie and Norman’s pillows.

Life at the Callahan household was governed by cruel rituals. Rosie and Norman were forced into kitchen duty, where Mrs. Callahan and Becky mocked Rosie’s height. Small accidents were punished with a wooden spoon to the head. Despite this, a sense of solidarity grew among the children. Brian, a boy with severe nervous tics, gave Rosie the affectionate nickname Rosie Petals. The children organized their own entertainment, such as a talent show on the back deck, finding rare moments to feel like normal children.

The reality of their situation remained grim. One afternoon, the children found Brian tied to his bed with extension cords because his tremors made him drop laundry. After Norman and Rosie untied Brian in the middle of the night, another foster child snitched. Mrs. Callahan beat Norman with the wooden spoon and then turned her attention to Rosie. Discovering that Rosie had taught the children a counting game containing a forbidden word, Mrs. Callahan shoved her fingers deep into Rosie’s throat, nearly choking her into unconsciousness. Returning to the bunkroom, Rosie found the other children waiting for her, their silent support the only thing keeping her grounded.