I am in the process of reading this book called A Piece of Cake by the Author Cupcake Brown it is an autobiography about a woman who's mother died and she was thrown into the foster care system and abused at the hand of the system

This book is honestly hard for me to read its like I am reading parts of my best friend and soul sister Shawnetta's life. Although her ending was not as happy as the one in the book since she killed her self in 1997 right before her 21 birthday. I still miss her!

I look back at everything she went through from her mother being a heroin addict and sex worker to all the abuse her mother put on her when she was 12, Shanwnetta told me she was in playing Barbie and her mom walked in the room with her pimp he looked her up and down and asked Marie ( Shawnetta's mom) when she thought she would be ready and Marie said soon.. Shanwnetta knew what she meant luckily that pimp was sent to prison soon after that. AT age 14 I meet her I had seen her in school she tried talking to me I was 16 she was a freshman and I kind of ignored her but one after noon in Thursday school detention I was doodling and she passed me a not with lyrics from a cure song she put on the note she checked out the cure because she saw me wearing a band shirt and she loved them.. We where instant best friends after that.

One night she called me around 11 pm crying saying she was at a gas station parking lot an that her mother had just tried to stab her because she thought Shanwnetta was sleeping with Alan AKA Booger the only father figure Shanwnetta ever really had, her mom had been up for a week… My mom drove over in her pj's and got Shanwnetta we didn't even talk about what had happened at that point we just hugged her and fed her and made her take a bath.. She lived with us for a little over a month. Her mom found out where she was at and showed up one night when both Shanwnetta and I where not home, Marie pulled a gun on my dad demanding Shanwnetta, my dad told her no and told her off about being an bad mother and how Shanwnetta deserved better and Marie screamed at my Dad that she was going to turn Shanwnetta in as a run away so my parents would get arrested for not giving Shanwnetta back to her.

The next day we didn't go to school my mom took both of us the Child Protective Service Office and tried to some how legally get to keep Shawnetta at our house. They basically told my mom that we where to poor and our house would not pass the test for foster care and since Marie was still alive and not willing to give up custody their was no choice in the matter that Shanwnetta had to return home and Shanwnetta and my mom protested explained about the threats and her drug use and the CPS worker told us just because she was a drug addict didn't make her a bad mom and she had choices to make go home, go to foster care or be a runaway. We went back to our house and that night Marie came and got Shanwnetta the next day she was not in school. 3 days later we go to her house there is no answer at the door and the neighbor tells us that the same night Marie had brought Shawnetta back home Marie had been arrested on drug charges and my soul sister and my best friend was now in foster care..

This was another cycle of abuse starting. She was placed in a home in Jefferson ..:

Oregon I was allowed to see her and she could come stay the night at our house to at first it didn't seem that bad until the Grandfather came to live their also and he started abusing Shawnetta so she ran away. CPS still would not approve my family as a foster care option; booger was not her real dad so he could also not take her. This was the beginning of the cycle of many foster care homes and even at one point with her biological father in Indio CA she was sent back to foster care by him they had no bond and he didn't want to deal with a damaged wild teenager so she finally ending up at Jackie's where then always ended up being sent back to again was abused and ridiculed by this old drunk fat lady that claimed to be born again Christian. Jackie's home was for the troubled runaways and unwanted kids. She didn't allow Shawnetta to come to stay with me she said the devil had my soul. Her pattern was set every chance she got she was a runaway more then once the police would come to our house looking for her luckily we had a few hiding places.

At age 16 Shawnetta's mom was murdered her body decomposed in a ditch for 2 weeks in Gervis Oregon before they found it. She was killed most likely by a trick. The state of Oregon and the police had Shawnetta identify her moms body but offered no follow up counseling. Her Foster monster Jackie revealed in the moment to show the state what a good foster she was throwing Maries funeral and planning the entire thing. I remember going and Jackie wouldn't allow Shawnetta to sit with Booger or my family and our friends. Jackie also threw out some of her mom's belongings that she felt where satanic.


There are to many wonderful and sad stories to type about now plus my brain feels over loaded with emotions that I hadn't thought of in a long time. Its been 11 years since she died and I still miss her with all my heart. I wish she could have had the support and help she needed so she would still be alive so I could call my friend and tell her that I loved her, so when I have kids she could be auntie netta tigger butt.. but the system failed her.

I think this is part of why I became a social worker

Maybe I can be that person that lets a damaged person know that someone cares and lay out choices for a life of change. if I can help someone change in a positive way or just let them know someone cares then its worth it..


So yeah this blog originally was suppose to be about this book..

Very good book the scoop on it is bellow



Cupcake's best-selling memoir, A Piece Of Cake is now at book stores everywhere. The memoir is an inspirational story of a young girl lost in the system and left to fend for herself and forced to survive on her own in any way that she could, which she did through prostitution, drugs, alcohol, gangs, violence, and crime. Ultimately, through the encouragement of those who recognized her abilities and worth, and their continued support until she too began to recognize those qualities herself, she completely turns her life around. A Piece Of Cake is a gut-wrenching story of hopelessness, despair, validation, and ultimate success.

Author Cupcake Brown.