Sarah is a 16-year-old Mexican "at-risk" adolescent. She currently resides with her mother Lisa and her 3 other younger siblings. They all live in an area that is predominately people from Mexico in El Grande, California. The household composition includes her 2 sisters Joan and Julie that are 13 year old twins and her brother Juan who is 10 years old. Sarah has a bad temper and behavior issues in school and her family. Sarah speaks English and Spanish and she is often made fun of because of how she talks and dresses. .
Sarah attends Compton High school where she is having issues struggling to stay on grade level. It does not look good for her to be promoted to the 11th grade. Sarah's problems in school stem from the fact that her mother works 2 jobs to support the family because their father was deported when her brother was born and he has not seen them, called them or supported them in any fashion since. Because of her mother having to work 2 jobs, Sarah is also responsible to her siblings at home. She has to cook, clean, help with homework and basically be the mother in her absence. .
Sarah troubles in school, at home and with the law are what makes her to be that of a juvenile delinquent. She fights other students and her siblings. She uses profanity towards her family, classmates and basically anyone that doesn't allow her to have her way. Her actions in school has caused her mother must disgust and she believes that her daughter will one day be placed in prison or six feet under. Sarah is constantly in trouble with the law. She has been placed on house arrest since her last run in. She was caught stealing from the local grocery store. She placed a pack of hotdogs in her back pack and was caught as she was leaving the store. Sarah was caught stealing clothing from a department store and stealing a video game from the local Radio Shack. Because this was Sarah's third time being arrested for stealing, the Judge at Juvenile and Domestic Courts chose to place her on house arrest.