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The Scriptures demonstrate to us the transformative power of the Lord. The New Testament in particular teaches us that through Christ, we can become new creations, leaving behind our old self—however wounded, broken, or sinful it may be—and taking on our new identity in Christ as sons and daughters of the Most High God. Redeemed. Restored. Held-fast. At For The Children, it is important to us that all young lives experience this transformation and take on their full potential, healing, and purpose in this world. Yet, though we plant Christ’s seeds of transformation at our camps and mentoring programs, we may not always see the fruit of that labor until many years later. Adrian’s story is one example…
Adrian, a Royal Family KIDS Camp alumnus, represents countless children who go through the foster care system. From an early age, Adrian experienced significant trauma in an unstable home. Before the age of three, Adrian recalls a near-death experience that shaped the next two decades of his life. “That near-death moment became a symbol of my life—constantly pulled under…always fighting to surface.” 1He was adopted at three years old and describes those first few years of adoption as a welcome season of peace…for a time. He experienced what most children might experience in a safe, loving home: Disneyland trips, pizza nights, breakfast and church on Sundays, baseball games, car shows. He had a glimpse into a normal childhood. But at eight years old, his adoptive family suffered serious trauma that left the family shattered and frayed. His adoptive mother experienced a car wreck, significant brain injury, and a brain tumor. Unable to cope, Adrian’s adoptive parents placed him and his adopted siblings into foster care one by one. His trauma continued.
Adrian’s first foster home was only a continuation of abuse. “I was moved into a dark, windowless room and given a bucket for a toilet. I ate alone, if at all. I [remember]crying myself to sleep, wondering when my parents were coming back. Sometimes, out of sheet hunger, I ate from the cat dish. When I acted out, they threw me into the pool and called it ‘hydrotherapy,’ despite knowing I couldn’t swim.” 2What was presented as “therapeutic” to the outside, Adrian described as “dehumanizing.”
Adrian was moved to his second foster home at age nine, and again, this home only deepened his trauma. With a mask of religion, the abuse went on undetected by police and child protective services. He recalls emotional abuse, psychological manipulation, predatory behavior, and physical harm at the hands of the other foster children. “I remember losing what it felt like to be a kid, and then eventually forgot what it felt like to be human.” 3 He tried to run whenever and anywhere he could, but he was always found and brought back, and still the abuse went undetected. “Eventually, I stopped trying to be heard and expected the worst out of each day.” 4 Even when he returned to his adoptive home at age thirteen, the influence of this foster home was not over; his foster mom had instructed one of the older sons to continue the same rules and the same control that were in the foster home. Adrian was desperate to have a normal, safe childhood, but at this point, it was clear to him that nothing had changed and surely, anything would be better than this. So, Adrian made a choice: “I chose jail.” 5
Unfortunately, jail did not offer the respite that Adrian craved, but he instead found it worse. He spent three months in solitary confinement, where he stopped eating, ripped out his hair, screamed just to hear the sound, hallucinated, broke down, unraveled. After his three months in solitary confinement and a transfer to a youth lockdown facility, Adrian made another decision: “…the best way to protect myself was to always be the aggressor.” 6 Then, he was placed in along-term residential facility, then in his adoptive home once again, where he and his parents fought and clashed, then in a group home two days before his 18th birthday, then, after he turned 18, in an adult transitional program. And Adrian crashed. His mistrust—his wall that he had built around himself—was solidified. “I knew I could never trust anyone ever again.” 7
It was in that transitional program that Adrian was introduced to methamphetamine. Within weeks, he left the program, slept nowhere, ate nothing, was hooked on the drug and could only think of pursuing the high. Life quickly spiraled. Added to the drugs were the parties, the guns, the street life. Jail became a recurring theme until his 26th year…but then came the turning point.
At 26 years old, Adrian was again in prison and on a 23-hour-a-day lockdown. He had no one. All he had was the silence. “I was left only to realize I became the exact person I hated all my life.” 8 From that point on, he decided to try to be better each day—not perfect, but better. In 2020, Adrian was released from prison for the last time, and in March of 2021, he met his future wife. In May, they married, and Adrian found a stable career where he could stay sober, build savings, repair credit, and work to make a quiet, stable life, something he had never really known. Now, he wants to volunteer at Royal Family KIDS Camp where he had attended as a young boy. “I want to show other kids that they’re not broken, that their pain has a place in their story, but it doesn’t have to be the ending.” 9
At camp, sometimes the fruit of labor can be seen immediately; a child might blossom and flourish in the first few days of camp, and if they return the next year, return a completely different child. Other times, the seeds planted at camp might not take root for years—even decades—after. Adrian represents the latter. But consider the bamboo plant. When a bamboo seed is planted, it can take up to a year, or potentially even longer, before you see even a sprout. After it sprouts, it will likely take several years before the plant is fully grown. But amazingly, the bamboo plant has incredible growing potential after the initial stages. Some can double in size each year, and some can grow up to 100 feet tall! Similarly, the seeds that we plant at our camps and mentoring programs might take a long time before taking root, and even longer before we see a sprout. Yet God can take that seed and cause it to grow exponentially until it eventually becomes a strong and healthy grove that continues to multiply.
Like Adrian, a child’s life might be steeped in pain and tragedy for seemingly unending years. Yet God does not forget his children. Just as our campers are taught each year at Royal Family KIDS Camp, God is always with them. He will not forsake them. He has good plans for them. The seed that was planted in Adrian’s heart finally did take root and now, he is living in the good plans that God formed for him before he was knitted in the womb. Adrian’s story offers hope for those children who attend camp but continue down dark and tragic paths. No matter how many years may pass, God can still grow those seeds. Trust that those children are not forgotten; they are in God’s ever-loving, almighty, trustworthy hands.
1-9From Adrian Pellini’s personal testimony
