My Sister, My Responsibility
Monica Smith – Higginsville, Missouri –
My Life My Town told Monica Smith’s story in 2012. Smith’s parents have been in and out of jail since she was 8 years old. Back in 2012, she lived with her grandparents in Higginsville, Missouri. When reporters caught back up with her in 2015, she was attending the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, living in a house with her peers and working at Pizza Hut like a typical college student. But in the middle of the semester, everything changed and Smith ended up right back where she was in 2012- moving back into the house in Higginsville.