This will be a weird post, sorry in advance. When I was an underaged kid, the Diocese of Providence basically exploited me for free labor. Well, one school anyway: Msgr Clarke in Wakefield.

My mother, a drunk, fell behind in her payments to the daycare there. My sister was at the daycare. She cut a deal with the principal, that I (aged 12) would work in the daycare (unpaid) to cover my sister's bills.

This is clearly pretty illegal: I was 12 and the minimum age for most work was 14. You needed a permit at 14, too. Obviously they also did not background check me, they didn't train me either. I did not receive compensation of *any* kind for this. It was not, for example, a work-study situation. I didn't get "Christian service" hours for my religious ed classes. It was just, like, humiliating exploitation. The daycare kids didn't listen to me because I was also a kid. I had to take the bus there from my school, all the kids and even some of the drivers made fun of me when I'd get off the bus. Like it really took a toll on my self-image and social standing.

The biggest issue I have with this, though, is that the principal should've noticed that my mom had a target child for abuse (me) and a golden child for private-school perks (my sister) and reported her to the state. They're supposed to be mandated reporters who notice & call when there's abuse. But that didn't happen. Instead, my mom went on to abuse me even further. I ended up homeless for a time, like I had to leave home to be 'safe.' I faced really serious consequences because of her abuse, no individual or agency ever tried to hold her accountable. Catholic Charities, Msgr Clarke, my parish, no one returned my calls when I was homeless and needed help.

I'm an adult now. Over the past 2 years, I've been trying to find out if the Diocesan schools have progressed. I spoke to their superintendant over a year ago, he laughed when I was describing the abuse because it was 'like Charles Dickens.' He admitted to the abuse basically, but couldn't provide assurances that they were doing better. I asked about teacher training, mandatory reporter stuff, he couldn't give me any concrete examples of programs or trainings helping them to do better.

I believe that if they were able to be held accountable, they'd put their house in order. The lack of statute of limitations around sex abuse has forced them to pay large settlements and implement safeguarding. I want them to do the same for other forms of abuse, like bog-standard exploited and abused by your mom. They don't take any of this seriously. Again: the superintendant laughed at me. The RI DLT has a statute of limitations of 3 years on back wages. I think the DLT should not have a statute of limitations when it comes to this kind of exploitation.

I'm just asking people: can you take an action like calling the Governor, or a state legislator, or the Diocese of Providence and asking them to do better when it comes to abuse? Because if they did it to me, they have done and are doing it to others. They treated me like an easy mark, not a kid who needed help. I left RI as a young adult, my Mom was basically stalking me, hanging out in the parking lot at my job, etc. So I'm not a voter there anymore. I've written to politicians in RI but never received a response. I've reached out to ProJo, the Boston Globe, the So County Independent, no one has responded to me. I think if I was still an RI resident it would carry more weight. But it's kind of not safe there for me, as I said I had issues with my mom following me and lurking outside my work when I was there.

Thanks for reading this. I know I will not recover the wages they owe me. It's not even really about that. They have non-profit status. They are a school: they should be safeguarding children. The hypocrisy also grates. They tell people you have to apologize for wrongdoing if God is going to absolve you. They would tell anyone in the confessional they have to say sorry and pay the wages to make it right. But they are not doing that. They avoid apologies and restitutions at all costs. They are also not able to tell me they're able to identify abused students or offer them help of any kind. So it's unacceptable to me.

I called the lawyer who handled the RI sexual abuse case, he tells me the statute of limitations has only been removed for sex abuse cases specifically. I think that's wrong. I think they should at least need to pay for therapy for kids if they participate in or cover up their abuse.