by Cassandra Umbach, Ottawa, Ontario

Hi, my name is Cassandra Umbach. I'm 18 years old and I live in Ottawa. Because I came from an abusive foster home to a safe adoptive family, I feel that every young person, regardless of whether or not they have a disability, should have a safe home. I was born with cerebral palsy.

I was in my foster home for about five years, from the age of five until the age of ten. During that time, I remember going to school and wondering why everyone else was looking forward to going home, when I dreaded going home and would have preferred to stay at school.

When I went to school I couldn't focus on my work because I was so distraught. When I was ten years old, I was adopted by the Umbachs into a safe and happy home and I remember feeling so angry that I even had to go through what I did, and that there were other children still suffering and nobody was doing anything about it. So then I decided to do something about it. With the help of my new adoptive parents, we got in touch with the Children's Aid Society of Ontario and tried to help out.

Since then, I'm an honour role student and I do a lot of different activities, like skiing, and right now I'm trying to get into the vocal programme at my high school.

Anybody should be able to live in a safe home, and if it means telling people about the problem, you'll learn that there are people out there who will listen, and who can give you the help you need.