Girl needs to learn how to just be a kid

For more than a decade, Vince and Lisa Crisostomo moved their four children from home to home -- living with friends, neighbors, wherever they could find a place to sleep. They never stayed in one spot longer than a few months.

Some days, they didn’t know where they’d get their next meal.

At the time, the couple was drinking, Lisa Crisostomo says, and often neglected the kids. By age 9, their eldest daughter, Courtney, had had to pick up the slack in caring for her younger siblings.

“She had to take over when my husband and I were unavailable,” says Lisa Crisostomo. “She doesn’t know how to be a kid.”

It was really difficult being in a family that was so unstable, says Courtney, now 12. “I didn’t like it at all.... Whenever we made friends, we’d have to move.”

Now, things are better. Both parents have been sober for more than two years. And the family has been in the same home for the last 12 months, at a transitional housing facility in Orange County’s Midway City.

“It’s just ours,” Courtney says happily of the two-bedroom apartment.

Courtney’s experiences shepherding her brother and two sisters while her parents were drinking has clearly shaped her. A shy tomboy with thick, dark hair and a smattering of freckles, Courtney remains reserved when talking about her family.

But that didn’t stop the Westminster School District from giving her an award for her “outstanding achievement and success despite all obstacles” and for maintaining a B average in the face of difficult family circumstances. A framed certificate sits near the front door in the Crisostomos’ living room, where Courtney sleeps on the sofa bed.

Her tough exterior manifests itself in her dedication to skateboarding, while her softer, nurturing side comes out in her love of baking. Peanut-butter fudge brownies are Courtney’s specialty, Lisa Crisostomo says.

Despite -- or maybe because of -- her tumultuous past, Courtney is uncertain about her opportunity to leave home and go to the YWCA’s Camp Miehana in the San Bernardino Mountains this summer.

“Since I’ve never gone before, I don’t know how excited to be,” she says. When her mom says it will be good for her to be totally carefree for a week, Courtney hides behind her tough exterior, too unsure of what to expect -- and of what will be expected of her -- to agree. Some time at camp, where she can relax and have fun, could help her open up and embrace being just a kid.

About 10,000 children will go to camp this summer, thanks to $1.6 million raised last year.

The annual fundraising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make donations by credit card, go to latimes.com/summercamp.

To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash.

Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.