Fawn grew up in and out of foster homes as a foster child. Eventually placed in kinship care, she persevered through her life and became a foster parent with her husband. Here is her advice for children in foster care:

“My mom had six children with six different dads. Two of the kids went up for adoption as soon as they were born and my older brother was out of the house before I had any real first memory. My mom struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. I remember my mom buying a pack of beer, 24 cans, and drinking them all as soon as we got home, every night. In first grade, I was 6, my mom started forgetting us at daycare every Friday. The daycare would call CPS and a police officer would come and take us to DSHS. We would return home Monday. This happened for years.

During the summer we would spend all summer in foster care, and in the fall we’d be back with our mom. She drank all week, leaving us to make our own meals and put ourselves to bed, bathe and do laundry.

Eventually, I got lucky, we were placed with my maternal grandparents and did not have to spend the rest of my childhood in and out of foster homes. I didn’t know my grandparents and it was still very strange and very difficult to leave the only normal I knew. My mom passed away when I was 16 from an overdose. I worked hard in school and I had many mentors and teachers to help me along the way. Though I lived with my grandparents, I was still a foster child and I was still in foster care, that was a huge struggle among trying to be normal with friends and not wanting people to know.

I graduated high school and I received many scholarships, one being The Governor’s Scholarship for foster children in Washington State. I am now married to a wonderful supportive husband and we are raising our own little boy. We are also foster parents and we have opened our doors in hopes that we can help children in foster care have a normal, steady, and loving home to live in. My advice to children in care now would be to love yourself, know it’s not your fault, at all. Find a foster parent, friend, teacher, or someone else you can use as a mentor and build a relationship with. Do not ever give up and do not ever let anyone make you feel powerless.” – Fawn

Foster parents like Fawn and her husband are continually changing the lives of children in foster care in their area. Are you considering foster care or adoption? Visit https://www.togetherwerise.org/foster-to-adopt. Do you have a foster child story you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it! Visit www.facebook.com/togetherwerise and send us a message.