CENTER TWP — One rape, 13 foster homes and a suicide attempt into Josh Shipp's childhood, and all it took to save him was a foster father who just wouldn't give up.

“Kids don't talk out, they act out,” Shipp said. “For me growing up in foster care, I felt I had no one I could talk to or turn to about these different heartbreaking, confusing, terrifying things going on in my life.”

On Tuesday morning, about 275 people gathered at Community Alliance Church for a speech, not a sermon. Butler County Children and Youth Services Agency brought in Shipp, a nationally recognized speaker. Shipp spoke to a room about his experiences growing up in the tumult of foster care and the lessons he has learned about helping children thrive despite adverse experiences.

The crowd consisted of workers from CYS as well as people from Butler County juvenile probation and courts. Venango, Armstrong, Washington and Beaver counties all sent workers to the event, according to CYS director Charlie Johns.

The event was funded using a $5,200 federal casework visitation grant, according to Johns.

Shipp kicked off with his own beginning: being left as a newborn by his mother with only a note saying she wanted more for him than she could give.

Shipp described a hectic youth. He was raped at a young age, leaving him with repressed trauma. School bullying inspired a suicide attempt.

As Shipp spoke, imagery flashed on projection screens behind him. One image seemed innocuous at first: a common, black and white composition notebook.

He had one as a child, he explained, in which he kept track of how quickly he could get kicked out of a new foster family's home. It was a game to Shipp.

It all changed when he landed in a good home. He viciously antagonized his new foster dad, Rodney, for being overweight, but the man stuck with him through all the abuse. Shipp wasn't kicked out when he burned precious family possessions.

Shipp said an important breakthrough moment arrived when he found himself booked in a county jail. The morning after his arrest, he looked from his holding cell into the front lobby to see Rodney standing first in line, ready to pay his bail.

“One, caring adult completely changed the game for me,” Shipp said.

Another image Shipp showed was that of several jars filled with marbles. Specifically, he said, 936 marbles — one for each day of a child's life before they turn 18. Several in the crowd said this metaphor was how they previously thought of Shipp, as videos online centered on it have amassed millions of views. Even when only a few marbles are left, he said, it's not too late to save a child from the wrong path.

Johns said he hopes the message delivered Tuesday carries into Butler County. Case workers in his office, he said, can't help the most troubled kids unless they have people like Rodney.

“We knew this would be good for us, but this matters for the community too,” Johns said. “We need those helpers.”

Shipp drove this idea home using a quote from Harvard Graduate School of Education research on childhood resilience: “Every child who winds up doing well has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult.”

Josh Shipp