Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It's great to be here in Cleveland, Ohio, or in Ohio. And today I'm going to share a message of resilience and redemption, a message of hope, a message that will hopefully rejuvenate you. How many of you parked out? No, no red need your hands. But a lot of you that I seek a lot for child welfare as Foster Paris and Department of Social Services and such as a lot of people that I meet at this time of the year is burnt out time, and it's all right. That tells me it's all right to be burnt out. That tells me you are on fire at one point. So I'm about to get to fire back. And also a lot of you that became false apparent with social workers that I found. Don't try to get rich. It's not something you chose like a get rich doing this. I've met the most special people that are fought er person social workers, and I realized they're not doing it for the outcome. They're doing it for the outcome. And I'm here to share with you the outcome of what is possible from a great social worker and great, loving, committed foster parents that were so dedicated to me growing up to becoming the man I am. See how I came in the story, how I came in this life is a crazy story my mother won't tell to my face. They to me, to my face all the issues that happened. I met my mom, my biological mom at about 30, 31 years old, and I had my case fit. And in my case fall that says I was brutally abused by men in her past. Brutally abused prenatally that I had all these issues. And so I contacted my biological mom after 25 years because she never reached out to me. She never visited me in foster care. She never called me while I was in foster care. She might write me a letter once a year or twice a year. So I found her address, and I sent her a letter saying, Hey, this is your son, Eric. I need some questions to answer. Send me your phone number. I'll call you. So she sends me her phone number. I call her. I realized that I don't want to talk to her over the phone. I want to talk to her in the person because I want to see your body language. I want to see your eyes. So I said, I want to see you. So I flew to New Mexico. She picked me up at the airport. Now I I'm a little anxiety at this point because I don't know this Lady. All I remember is all the abuse and stuff, the bad stuff that happens. So I'm sitting in the car with her and she's talking to me and she seems like a nice person, but I don't know. And as we drive, she says, Derek, I am surprised for you. And I'm like, Okay, maybe it's like baby pictures or something like that. And as we pull up to the house, we get out, we walk in the door, and a bunch of people go, surprised. And I'm like, Well, who are all these people? She goes, Oh, each of your aunts and uncles and cousins, your half brother, your grandparents just died last year. And blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, Wow. And it was amazing. It was like, my blood magnetized to their blood is like, before, I epically, whatever you want to call it. And it was like, Wow, I got another family here. And then after about an hour, it done on me. Well, where are you? A bit for 25 years. And then when they all left, I had all these wines that had to be answered that I carried on my back. Basically, why did you give me up? Why did you abuse me? Why did all these things? And later on in life, I realized that the is never get completely answered. And they pulled you back. Those is who pulls you back. And so when everybody left, it was on, like, Donkey Kong with my mom. Like, I wanted all these answers. And she said to me, I'm not gonna answer any questions. But look at you. You can call me mom now. And I'm like, You are not my mom. My foster mom is my mom. You gave up on me. And she's crying, right? And she starts running off. I go, Fine, run. And I am saying some choice words because I have a lot of built uberies that Vincent anger and frustration, frustration at her. And she comes back and says, Derek was tough for me. She was 30 years old at that point when she gave me, actually 35. At that point, I go, What up? It was it for you. You're the adult. I was the kid. And she starts crying and stuff, and I go, You know what? I can't deal with the tears. I was the kid. And I said to her, It's just that I was brutally abused, prenatally, brutally abused for the first few years of my life by this man. And blah, blah, blah. She didn't want to talk about it. And I said, I want the truth. I want the truth. I'm getting ready to have my own kid. I don't know who I am. And it she says, Ranger, in the records that you were sexually abused by minding your path. And she goes, Oh, no, we are not talking about that. And then adonhomes voices. And I spoken. I said, Am I protected? Rate. She goes, Oh, no, we are not going to talk about that, Derek. And I'm like, I want to know. And she said, Derek, I'm not talking about that. And I'm screaming at her. And then she said, Fine, I'll tell you something, Yes, a man forced himself, only I got Frank. And when I told that man, I'm pregnant with your kid. He said to me, Your father said to me, Well, you better go get an abortion. If you don't get abortion, I'll kill debate myself. So a three months. No abortion. Six months. No abortion. Seven months pregnant. You have a nice bump there. And my mom is waitressing at a restaurant in San Diego, California, doing her job waiting tables, and I'm enjoying myself. Swine amniotes flu the warmth of my mother's mood. I'm enjoying myself. I don't know what's gonna happen that is. Then my dad comes into the restaurant in a fit of rage, grabs my mother by her long blonde hair in front of the restaurant, drags her in a fit of rage back into the kitchen, throws my mom to the ground, and Katie to stomp on her stomach over and over again, kicking her, punching her. I'm gonna kill this kid. But you know what? I lived. And I tell people, thank you. I tell people all over this world as a professional speaker, speaking from the bottom of the Earth, Australia to the top of the Earth, First Nations Territory and Northern Territory, Canada to all different cultures. And I tell them, as long as there's air in your lungs, as long as there's a blood running through your veins, you have a purpose. And I received so many emails, so many Facebook messages, Instagram messages that fake Ericom lost. I'm lost. I don't even know what's the meaning of life. That's such a common question. And I always flip it on them to give your life meaning. You're here today because you have mean in your life or you're looking for meaning in your life to be a foster parent. Let me tell you who I am today because of the foster parent, because of a foster mom and dad, because I was a great investment in emotional investment. And they invested in me so that I could become something and they never wanted to limit my potential. I asked my mom next, what happened? She goes, Derek, he got arrested, went to prison when he got out, I got back with him. And I said, Why would you ever get back with this man? And she said, Because, Derek, he was so good looking. And I'm like, what? And then I realized I wasn't dealing with a Lady that had all her marbles in her head. My mom and I said, Well, he beats you. Well, Derek, that's what I thought. Love, what? That's the way my mom was treated in my grandma. So she stayed with him for a couple of years while he brutalized me. I have an older sister who's 10 years older than I from a different date. My mom and three years old when I was three, had enough courage to run away. That's a big deal. To run away from abuses and relationship. She ran away with both of us in to we don't have a car. We don't have money. We are living in a Park in Southern California.