Butterfly Tears: Stories of Entrapment to Empowerment

Butterfly Tears...a Powerful Voice for Empowering Women
“Welcome to my world.
I am twenty-five years old and I have spent most of my life dead.
This is my story and the stories of other young women like me,
who have fought tremendously with the world and with life.
Courageous young women—
willing to share all they’ve endured; how they survived;
and how they finally began to live...”
—Kaysie, Pathways to Independence

So many women’s lives are shattered before they even have a chance to begin—
girls who suffer childhood abuse, neglect, drug addiction, and despair. Since 1991, the Pathways to Independence Foundation has provided help, healing, and—most importantly—hope to these struggling young women.

Butterfly Tears reveals the gripping and intimate stories of nine brave Pathways women who found the strength to turn their dark, raging worlds around. Women who, against all odds, broke free of the destructive cycle of addiction and abuse to attain love, security, and successful lives—women who have emerged as lawyers, teachers, and counselors to joyfully give back to society.

These compelling gut-level transformations offer inspiration to anyone who has suffered life’s hardships—to the breaking point and beyond. And they prove that there is a way out. Especially for those with desire, drive, and the nurturing cocoon of an unparalleled organization like Pathways to Independence.