Synopsis "We're all Broken (in English)"
Raised by an alcoholic father, Roger Hayes prided himself on having risen above. A loving wife, five wonderful kids, a good job, a house bigger than they needed, he’d made a beautiful life for himself. Then, tragedy struck.His wife, Annabeth Hayes, is struck by a drunk driver in a brutal car accident, killing her instantly. Punished by yet another alcoholic, the accident triggers a mental downward spiral for Roger. Old hurts are brought to the surface, buried mental health issues arise, and he ends up committing himself to a mental rehabilitation center. Then, while seeking the help he knows he needs, he loses custody of his children.Is Roger strong enough to battle his way through the pain and build his life up all over again, or will he forever crumble?* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *I’m Penelope Hayes, and my father lost his mind after Mom died. We all ended up in foster care. While some of us got lucky in our placements, two of my sisters turned did not.I watched my father fight his battles. He tried to get help though out-patient care, then in-patient care, then out-patient care again. I watched him follow all the rules in trying to get the five of us back. I even started going to the house on weekends, as a trial.Then my siblings and I were all told he had relapsed and needed extended in-patient care, and none of us saw him again for five years. What no one told us, but I later read on the internet, was that he was actually serving a sentence for the attempted murder of a drunk driver. Once he made parole, and in the best mental health of his life, he was to have no contact with any of his children. I think it’s totally understandable that neither he nor I adhered to that order.It wasn’t until I grew up and became an officer of the law that I eventually find out what all else Daddy had been up to as he fought off his mental demons. That’s when I had to struggle with whether I could bring myself to turn in evidence against him, or not.A story of love and loss, failure and triumph, and finding the good within the horrific.
