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19-year-old Natalie Carson grew up in foster homes for as long as she can remember but was never adopted. According to the Denver native, she was abused by these different families and has never had a normal family to call her own. For her birthday, she posted an ad on Craigslist with hopes to find a nice, loving family to spend her birthday with because she never had that luxury.

“It’s something that I’ve never really had. Of course, I’ve had birthdays, but they haven’t been good,” she said. “Usually every birthday is really painful and hard.” By the age of 18, Natalie aged out of the system and has been completely on her own. She explains that she found support from Urban Peak, a Denver-based shelter program for youth without families, but it wasn’t the same as having an actual family to love and care about her.

Natalie revealed that ever since she posted the ad up about finding a family to spend her birthday with, her e-mail has been flooded with requests to let her spend her birthday with them. What a touching story. We hope she finds the happiness and comfort she deserves.

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