Atlantic (Final)

to nearly two thirds of the United States
population. The reasons for there being so
many orphans vary from natural causes or
catastrophic events, but sadly, losing their
parents can happen to anyone, no matter
their economic or social standing. It is estimated
that 153 million children all over the
world, ranging from infants to teenagers,
have lost one or both parents. In America,
there are over 120,000 orphans, while another
400,000 children live without permanent
families, and it is common for children
in foster care to age out, leaving them with
little financial or emotional support, and
27,000 children age out of the system every
year (HHS; AFCARS). In Monica’s case,
she was lucky. She had an aunt and an uncle
who were willing to take Monica and
her four younger siblings in. The kids
stayed in the same house they grew up in,
and while their aunt and uncle helped financially,
Monica was left in charge of caring
for the kids. She had to drive them to
school, feed them, help them with their
homework, and make sure they stayed in
line. Her uncle offered her a job as a secretary
where he worked, so that she would be
able to bring in more money into the household
so that they would afford every necessity
the children may have.
Orphaned children don’t only have to
deal with losing their parents, but like Monica,
they must also tackle all other obstacles
life throws at them (Roldan). They must
learn to be responsible and get jobs in order
to get money to support themselves, and in
Monica’s case, her four younger siblings.
But meeting such needs can be a little more
than complicated, since they usually have
no money or any form of support whatsoever,
and it is because of things like this that
over 1 billion children suffer from at least
one form of severe deprivation of basic
needs such as water, food, and sanitation
(Holt International). Monica and her siblings
had a stable home and a constant supply
of money, but she still had to go to
school every day, usually arriving late, but
unlike in the past few years, it wasn’t because
she was off spending time with her
father (Roldan). Those days were long
gone. She had to make many sacrifices in
order to keep what was left of her family
together. She gave up the rest of her childhood,
and like she said during the interview,
“I wanted to live my life like the teen-