DEREKA

Dereka is also especially vulnerable. As a result, she has experienced unspeakable hardships throughout her life at the hands of the apathetic, the judicial, and the predatory. Despite relentless adversity, Dereka remains especially strong... In the Fall of 2014, Dereka began to regress. It was hard to tell what was going on. Was it her seizure disorder? Did something trigger the events of her past? Her symptoms could be so many things. It took nine months of watching Dereka and countless evaluations before Barbara came to understand what was going on - Dereka was being sexually abused and ultimately was choked and raped by a female care giver in her own home, in her own bedroom... Dereka worked hard in the coming years and made tremendous progress. She developed her vocabulary and learned the basics of caring for herself. Dereka came to understand that there would always be food, there would always be care, and that closets were for clothes and not punishment.

Also known as: Dereka Crosby Foundation