In 1850, a Catholic orphanage called St. Aemilian was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to take in children whose parents had died in a cholera epidemic. 168 Years later, that same organization — now known as “SaintA” —  is still finding shelter for thousands of children who need it, often kids who have deep trauma in their young lives, and helps those kids with a revolutionary approach that’s spreading across the country.

No longer a residential orphanage, SaintA primarily places orphaned, abandoned, neglected and abused children in foster homes, and then coordinates their care. On any given day, it’s looking after some 2,000 children, almost all of whom are part of a 21st century epidemic of childhood trauma.

Milwaukee resident Alisha Fox was given that PTSD diagnosis seven years ago, months after she somehow found the courage to tell her grandmother – and then the police – of the terrible trauma she had been enduring. Continue reading the interview between Oprah Winfrey and Alisha Fox, a courageous abuse survivor.