When I started writing “Aging Out” and Misty emerged in my creative process, I knew very soon that I had to know her full backstory to be true to her narrative and to be evenhanded writing about the social systems that had framed her life. Here is her story. It can be helpful to actors’ development of characters.
–Jody Johnson
Note: There are explicit references to abuse in the story that some may find triggering.
History of the Main Character, Melissa (Misty) Hardwell
In the late nineties, in the town of Lawrence, Kansas, there is a girl named Kendra Ralston. She is the daughter of Lucille and Joe Ralston. Kendra’s Aunt Joline lives next door to Lucille and Joe. Kendra has had problems with substance abuse during high school, and Lucille and Joe have done all they can to help her recover – she gets clean for spans of time but often relapses.
Kendra finishes high school in May of 2000, and has a boyfriend, Ricky Lenton, and is pregnant. On January 10, 2001, Kendra’s first daughter, Mykala Lenton is born, and she moves into a house two doors down from Lucille and Joe. Though Kendra continues a relationship with Mykala’s father, they never live together and he becomes less and less involved in Mykala’s life.
Misty is Born
Kendra begins seeing Jessie Hardwell, a man with a history of drug use who has been in jail for various drug-related crimes. On August 14, 2002, Kendra’s second daughter, Melissa Hardwell, is born. She is nicknamed “Misty” by her Granny Luci. (Lucille saw Kendra’s eyes moisten when she handed Melissa to her in the hospital the day after the birth and teased Kendra about being “misty-eyed.”) Not long after Misty’s birth, Kendra begins heavier drug use. There are bouts of intervention by Child and Family Services with family preservation services provided. For the most part, Misty and Mykala stay safe because they can go to Granny Luci’s when things get bad.
In February of 2006, Jessie Hardwell is imprisoned with a lengthy sentence due to drug dealing. Kendra does a short amount of time as well. Because of the situation, Mykala moves to Missouri with her paternal grandmother and does not return. Misty stays with Granny Luci until her mother is able to take care of her again. Kendra goes through rehab again and is somewhat successful.
That same summer (2006), Kendra meets Willie Sterns. October 20, 2007, Kendra has her third child, Kaci Sterns. Between moving away for several years and being in prison off and on, Willie is not around much, and Kendra does a decent job for a number of years staying clean, holding a job and taking care of the girls.
In December 2013, Willie comes back to town and moves in with Kendra and the girls. In January, Granny Luci passes away from a heart attack, and though Joe is ailing, he still provides a safe place for Misty and Kaci. He is able to do this with help from their great Aunt Joline who lives next door. Willie’s and Kendra’s drug use accelerates. Subsequent reports to Child and Family Services threaten removal of the children, but again, with safe relative resources nearby, state custody is, for a time, avoided.
Abuse, Neglect and Removal
Willie and Kendra are clean for a few months, but in February of 2014 they accelerate their use of meth, and it creates a devastating home life. On a night in April of 2014, with Kendra passed out in the living room, Willie enters the girls’ bedroom and molests 11-year-old Misty as his own daughter, Kaci, sleeps across the room. Willie keeps Misty quiet with threats about her mother going to jail; the abuse happens periodically until July 12.
On July 12, 2014, Misty (almost 12) and Kaci (almost seven) wake up on the weekend to find no one in the house. They are hungry but find nothing to eat. Misty finds some dollars and change on top of the counter, and she and Kaci walk to Dillon’s Grocery to buy cereal. An exchange with the cashier prompts a call to the police, and on the way home, a patrol car stops and gives the girls a ride home. The girls do not know where their mother and Willie are, but Kendra and Willie arrive home while the police are still there. Child and Family Services is called to remove the girls from the home. Kendra and Willie are arrested on possession charges, and as Kendra is being taken away, she screams at the girls, telling them it is their fault, and that she and Willie are going to jail because of them and that it “serves them right” that they are going to foster care.
By her twelfth birthday, Misty is still living in her first foster placement. It was to be temporary, and she and Kaci were to move in with Grandpa Joe, but he became ill. Kaci, Misty’s half-sister, goes to live with a paternal aunt who will eventually adopt her. Discussion continued briefly of Misty moving in with Grandpa Joe, but he passes away just after Misty’s birthday. Out of commitment to her sister, Misty’s Granny Luci, Joline takes Misty in at the end of August after Joe’s funeral. They do well together, but Joline realizes there needs to be a better long-term plan. Her health is not good, and she is weary. She tells the social worker that they need to work out something else, and after Christmas 2014, Misty moves to her third placement.
A Long Road in the System
It has been just six months since Child and Family Services removed Misty from the home. Both of her half-sisters, Mykala and Kaci, are living with paternal relatives. Ricky Lenton, father of Mykala is no longer around and Willie Sterns, father of Kaci, is back in jail on drug and abuse charges for his abuse of Misty. Misty’s father, Jessie Hardwell, is still in prison for dealing and expresses no desire to have contact with Misty. He quickly relinquishes his parental rights.
Kendra Ralston at first attempts rehab but doesn’t last. Early on she has sporadic supervised visits with Misty at Joline’s, but she stops showing up for the visits and makes no future contact with Child and Family services. Kendra’s parental rights are terminated by the court in October of 2015, and she makes no protest. Eventually, she moves out-of-state with another man. Thirteen-year-old Misty believes her mother really wants to love her and can’t understand why her mother couldn’t get clean for her own daughter.
In January of 2016 Misty is assigned a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA—Carolyn Munjak. (There was a waiting list for CASAs in the court district when she first came into care.) At first Misty distrusts her but over time she decides Carolyn can be trusted.
Even so, life going forward over the next few years is very rough for Misty—she has been sexually abused, she has lost contact with her half-sisters except for the occasional phone call, she is academically and socially limited, and she has been abandoned by both parents. She acts out in anger and spends time in group and restricted foster care mingled with placement with individual families. She is often in weekly therapy. Her foster home stays are a mix of experiences, with many disruptions on her part that cause her to be moved, but in some situations she does well. In fact, at one point she is almost adopted but then runs away with no explanation. Misty has a juvenile offender incident (shoplifting) but she gets a diversion and doesn’t re-offend.
Connections (and Hope) Emerge
Carolyn remains constant, helping Misty find her way through pain and abandonment ever so slowly. Beginning in January 2018, Misty seems to start responding more favorably to services—not only in therapy as well as through the excellent case management of her new social worker, Liz Cutler. Her placement count now stands at 23. As Misty ages, the social service agencies begin focusing on independent living skills.
August 2019: This month Misty turns 17. She is entering her last required year in state custody, able to sign herself out at 18, and she is desperate to do so. Her personality and behaviors have leveled out considerably in the last few years—therapy has worked well for her, and she has learned a lot about herself. Unfortunately, the foster placement she is in will end in November as the father in the family lost his job and must move out of the state for work.
Misty will move back to Lawrence with a new family in October, but not in time for the start of school. The court hearing that occurs August 2019 is the one portrayed in the opening scene of Aging Out.
It is just before her senior year of high school.