Picking up the Pieces

Cherokee McAlpine was born in Faribault, MN, though she moved around a lot as a child. At age of three, Cherokee was put into the foster care system due to abuse, neglect, and a terrible accident that left her siblings in the hospital. Cherokee was abused throughout her childhood, adopted for a number of years by her grandparents who were also abusive, until she ended up with the Abbott House at age of twelve. She then started writing poetry to help cope with her past. She aged out of the Abbott House foster homes when she graduated high school. She went on to get an Associates of Applied Science in Human Services and went back to work for the Abbott House until June of 2022.