The Street Kids Who Are Rising Above Their Dead-End Destinies
A GROUP of Valley street kids has decided to draw a line under the trauma and tragedy they've experienced and put their days of heroin, speed, alcohol, stealing and violence behind them.
Tristan, 18, has been on the streets since he was 12. He became a father at 13 and has done - and dealt - all kinds of drugs. He has seen more strife than most people see in a lifetime.
On his 18th birthday this year he realised he couldn't keep going.
"I realised things get worse. Not just the penalties for crimes but it gets harder to reform and get out of the lifestyle," he says as he describes the hell that is heroin addiction.
He is now aiming for a career in the army if he can get a grievous bodily harm charge downgraded or beaten.
"I've now got a lot of people who will kick my arse if I get out of line," he says.
Jacko, 23, has a grade 5 education and has been on the streets for almost 10 years. He rattles off drugs offences and crimes like they are a part of his curriculum vitae. But that is not his story anymore because he wants more than anything to be normal.
"I want my own job, my own kids and a house," Jacko says.
"I've only just got my life back on track through Sarina Russo."
Not Ms Russo herself, but her staff at the Fortitude Valley job centre that bears her name.
He's looking for a job involving horses or maybe an apprenticeship and is being held on course by his girlfriend Kiama, 16, a reformed street kid herself who got as far as sixth grade but now wants to finish school and get into child care.
One thing they all have in common is alcoholic, abusive and neglectful parents.
"We are the keys that don't fit the lock," says Jordon, a 16-year old street kid who wants a degree in psychology and tries not to think about the hand he's been dealt.
"It's easier to think everyone has s- parents," he says.
Luke, 23, has done a few stints in jail, and is looking after his younger brother Tyler, 16, whose ambition is to own a business by the age of 18. Tyler's girlfriend Stephanie rarely leaves his side.
The boys were thrown out of home by their mother, who thought children would affect her relationships.
Luke would like to do a course in interior decorating.
Sarina Russo's Valley employment consultant Denise Bozman says the trick is to listen to what the youths want for themselves.
"They have decided enough is enough," she says. "It's a myth that street kids are not worth anything."
But the path ahead is not always smooth even after the youths find a job and somewhere to live.
"All of a sudden they have realised their dream and it throws them," Ms Bozman said.
"They realise they don't have to go steal food or break into a car to sleep and sometimes they can't cope.
"These are good kids and all they need is someone to listen. They want to achieve something. It's just a matter of showing them you believe in them."
