We just need the same thing any other young person needs: people to love us and believe in us. There is no limit on the things you could do for a foster youth, no act too great or too small. We're like flowers—if you just give us a little water, we'll grow.

I was nine years old the first time I went into foster care. My mother was not able to take care of her children due to health complications. I was terrified of leaving all that I knew and staying with strangers. A million concerns were going through my little brain all at once: Will I ever go home? Am I going to able to see my family? My friends? Will my foster parents like me? Why do they think my mommy is a bad person? These questions plagued my mind for every foster home I moved to and for the five years I spent in foster care.

My first foster home was amazing and helped to make my transition into foster care a little easier. My foster mother, Maxine, welcomed us into her home and allowed me and my sister to call our mother to tell her how much we loved her and wanted to come home. Maxine continued to nurture the relationship with my mother, because she understood that I loved her with all of my heart despite what social services proclaimed her to be.

I stayed with Maxine for a year, and I cried when I left her home because I was uncertain of my future. I was never told why I had to move or where I was going, I was just told to pack my stuff.

I stayed in my second home for two weeks and then moved to a third home for a year before being reunified with my mother. I was placed in foster care again when I was twelve for a few months, and a third time when I was sixteen for two years. The third time my little sister and I were placed in separate foster homes on opposite sides of the state. I was in a total of four foster homes, and three group homes. Every move meant getting adjusted to new people, schools, and rules. The only thing in foster care that was certain was my fear and confusion.

I was angry while I was in foster care because of people (e.g. caseworkers, judges, and lawyers) making decisions concerning my best interest without involving me in the decision making process. I remember praying and asking God for a suitcase of money to be under my bed when I woke up, so that I could give it to my mom and she could get what we needed to come home.

I am twenty-four years old now and have been out of foster care for seven years, but as I recount my experience, the pain resurfaces. The system that was designed to protect me, left life-long scars on me and my family. My relationships with my birth mother and siblings have suffered, and unfortunately we are no longer close. When we were reunified with our mother she said that we "were no longer the children that she had raised." Foster care divided my family and taught us to live separately from one another. Things were never perfect before foster care, but we were all we had. After reunifying we all dealt with our pain in solitude, instead of healing together.

People often see teenagers in foster care and assume we're there because we've done something wrong, and that's just not true. However, lots of foster youth start to give up on their futures, they lose the ability to make relationships and they turn 18 without the connections and safety net that we all need to be successful.

Changing homes, moving schools and other factors all lead foster youth to fall behind, and many never catch up. But, we've made it. We are strong and resilient. With a little bit of support we can do amazing things. I see former foster youth all around me who are successful, contributing members of society, all because someone paused to see the strength in them and got involved in their life. We just need the same thing any other young person needs: people to love us and believe in us. There is no limit on the things you could do for a foster youth, no act too great or too small. We're like flowers—if you just give us a little water, we'll grow.

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Ingredients:

• Willingness to help someone out
• Love
• Understand of what it's like to be a teen

Caring Time:

• Any amount - from 5 minutes to a lifetime

Cost:

• Whatever you can give

Results:

• Helping a young person reach their full potential
• Stability
• Hope