January Schofield is widely known for her battle with schizophrenia, as chronicled in the books January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save Her by Michael Schofield and Born Schizophrenic: A Mother's Search for Her Family's Sanity by Susan Schofield. Despite her family's efforts to provide her with the care she needed, January became a victim of the DCFS Los Angeles County system. Her story, shared on the YouTube channel The Schofield Truth, exposes the harrowing ways in which DCFS failed to protect her and instead perpetuated abuse within the system. January’s experience sheds light on the urgent need for reform to safeguard the most vulnerable children.

Legacy Foster Carter was a former foster child from the early 90s—a time when he was taken by the state and rejected by his family under the care of DFYS, now known as OCS. Today, he stands his ground against a corrupt system, armed with evidence of the severe PTSD it caused and the worsening struggles it left behind. His story is one of resilience, survival, and a relentless pursuit of justice in the face of systemic failures.

Rick's life was marked by profound trauma and instability from a young age. Removed from his mother's care at six and placed in the foster care system of the early 1990s, he endured years of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and instability, moving between foster homes and group homes. Diagnosed with ADHD, depression, and PTSD, he discovered his mother had died. Later adopted at fourteen, he faced further exploitation, essentially enslaved by his adoptive family. He was forced to care for numerous animals and younger siblings while attending school. At seventeen, he was returned to foster care, where a staff member wrongly blamed him for his mother's death, leading to an altercation and incarceration in juvenile detention until his eighteenth birthday. Upon his release, he received minimal support and was left to fend for himself. Despite fathering three children, a life of hardship and poverty led to imprisonment for burglary, stemming from alcohol abuse and theft. Ironically, even with a job and housing secured upon his impending parole, the court deemed him unfit to have custody of his children due to his prior incarceration.

My journey began at the age of thirteen when I was placed in foster care. Life took an even more unexpected turn when, at eighteen, I became a mother to my daughter. Her father was the son of the assistant director of DHR (CPS). He had been adopted by her at birth, as she never had children of her own.

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The father of my child shared stories of his troubled past, often blaming his behavior on being left alone frequently while his mother pursued relationships. He struggled with addiction and became physically abusive. By the time I was nineteen, I knew I had to leave to protect myself and my daughter.

While I worked and attended school, he refused to work, leaving me to shoulder all responsibilities. One day, he stole my car for three days, leaving me desperate and without basic necessities for our daughter. I turned to his mother for help, but her response was dismissive and cold: "She should be able to take care of that," she said before hanging up on me.

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Despite the challenges, I managed to escape and build a life for myself. I secured my own apartment, a job, and even paid off a car. His mother remained uninvolved in our lives until one day, the lies began. He accused me of being on drugs and neglecting our daughter. None of this was true.

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My daughter had suffered a regression after a vaccine injury, which caused her to stop responding to her name. Instead of support, they blamed me for her condition. Though I was a dedicated mother who spent all my time caring for her, their accusations resulted in my daughter being taken away.

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Over the years, I fought to bring her back. At times, I succeeded, but the financial strain of being a single parent pushed me into working in bars to make ends meet. Unfortunately, that lifestyle led to my own struggles with alcohol.

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I’ve been sober now for ten years. This month marks a decade of recovery and reflection.

The pain of those years is still heavy, but my faith in God—my ABBA in heaven—gives me strength. I hold onto hope, knowing that the truth matters and that my story might inspire others.

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Through it all, I visited my daughters every month, spending the entire day with them until their paternal grandfather passed away. Their grandparents were divorced and remarried, living in separate homes. My youngest daughter was returned to me after her grandfather and his new wife showed kindness and compassion.

However, my oldest daughter is still with her grandmother, Margaret Walker, in Alabama. She is now seventeen years old, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of her.

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Thank you for listening to my story. It’s a painful chapter, but I share it in the hope of shedding light on the failures of a broken system—and the resilience of the human spirit.

HR Lead

Customer Support Lead