Thank you one and all. Everything is good. I talked to both my mentor and her cousin, she on the phone and he face to face. I told them what I had done, asked them to forgive me, and told them that I knew I had abused their trust. He was gentle, as I expected him to be. No speeches, he said there and let me talk. Afterward, he just said that if I need or want to know something; just ask. No lecture about being sinful.... My mentor was more concerned that I still wanted to stay and if I got the answers to my questions. No drama! I know that I need to be more concerned with the new family's feelings and privacy. So, thank you all for your help and advice. I was thinking about just leaving, I am glad that you were here and helped me.

I was recently take in by a family. I thought, great another foster home who is willing to take me in because they will be paid by the state for offering a hand out. Okay, so I have some trust issues. Today, I did what a guest should never do, I opened my sponsor's mail. She is out of country and I thought, what the hell. It was from the Child Welfare and I am certain that I am the only person she is as she puts it "sponsoring." So, I was sure the letter was to disclose how much money she would get. I read these types of letters before. I read her letter, it said that it was to confirm that she was taking all responsibility for my support and would not be receiving any aid or support from the state, to include medical care. It went on to say that she has to have me insured not later than 1 March 2014. Now I have confused emotions, I feel guilt for opening her mail and I feel gratitude for her kind heart. Should I confess that I opened her letter? What if I tell her and she kicks me out? But, if I do not tell her then I will be lying to the only person that has been good to me in .....forever. Advice, please.

I'm glad everything worked out and take it easy on yourself. Don't be so quick to beat your self up over this. You are on equal footing as everyone else. You had your reasons at the time, regret it now and it is a lesson learned. You now see how bad you feel and will use that negative experience to gauge further decisions and choices. Besides, you now know that if there is truly a caring motivation as opposed to personal gain, it really doesn't matter to them anyway but will matter most to you whether or not you decide to do something like that again. As the Bard famously wrote in Hamlet, 'To thine own self be true' (make decisions based on your personal convictions and don't make them to please others).

It is understandable that you have trust issues and it is also understandable what you did. That doesn't make it right but it doesn't make you a bad person. Unfortunately, everyone has some issue(s) and some never get the chance to understand it or change for the better. Instead, unlike you, they continue to justify why what they did was good.

How very kind. Thank you. Yes, I am learning many things. I am just so releaved that they did not make it a big deal. I did think about leaving and not having to tell them, but I came here and a few people helped me make a good decision. I still have trust issues. My new family says that is normal and mistrust is not an attitude that you just one morning wake up with, it comes with time and disappointments. They say that they that I have time to relearn who and when to trust. I pray they are right.

Thank you for your kind words. I feel so much better!