From Foster Care to New York City | Lisa Miller

At the Brink with Erica Brinker · Oct 21, 2026 · 47m

Warning: This episode includes discussion of suicidal ideation and a suicide attempt.

Lisa Miller was born in Detroit to a mother living with addiction. Before she was 10, she and her two older brothers had been through what she calls the year of hell with their biological father, in rural Appalachian Virginia, then a group home and separate placements. She was eventually adopted, moved out at midnight on her 18th birthday and became a mom at 21.

Then the years piled up. Her youngest son, Luke, arrived at 30 weeks and was diagnosed with autism at 2. Her oldest brother, Ryan, moved in with the…