Brad has dreams, like any 14-year-old. He wants to design video games, but not the slasher/thrasher kind.

"I want to make up games," he says. "Like, I wish people would use words instead of weapons to fight. Teach them to use words. Instead of (he throws a punch), you jab at them and a word comes at 'em and you have to duck out of the way."

You could say dreams are all Brad has, but they sparkle so sweetly in his mind, they help crowd out the bad stuff.

Removed from an abusive mother by the time he was school-age, Brad was placed in foster care, where the abuse continued. A failed adoption and five more foster homes followed. By 9, Brad had learned to call state-funded residential centers "home," and "family" was anyone who stopped his violent outbursts by hugging him until he quieted down.

Today, Brad is a thoughtful, good-looking young man. For the past two years, he has been living in Chehalem Youth and Family Services, a private, nonprofit residential treatment program in Newberg.

"I'm pushing along," he says, his dark eyes watchful. "I have struggles along the way. I have a mask. I hide my feelings. When I'm angry, I'm sad. I haven't seen my real mom since I was 2 years old, and I'm 14 now. I can't see her until I'm 18. She attempted to put a needle in me at 2. When I say that, I say, 'Gee, I don't want to be involved in that family,' but I see her as having a mental illness."

Of the 26 children in the program, all but three communicate with their families.

"Almost all the kids have somebody out there in the world, or they have a plan, something that motivates them," says Christine Parks, who spent two years as Brad's one-on-one counselor. "There isn't anybody for Brad. Really. Nobody. He doesn't know what's going to happen to him. There's no plan. He lives every day in gray, not knowing. He loves people and wants to move forward and believes there's a plan. That's more faith than I've seen, ever."

Brad, who suffers from severe attention deficit disorder, needs things to boost his self-esteem, Parks says. Clothes that aren't hand-me-downs, cologne, hair gel.

"I'm very particular about my hair," Brad says. "Nobody messes with my hair."

-- David Stabler