THE ROAD TO ADOPTION - CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE

(MUSIC PLAYS) 

Nicole: The first time when I started in foster care was when I was five. 

Melissa: I entered foster care at the age of eight. 

Boy 1: I came in foster care when I was about ten years old. 

Gabrielle: I was seven when I first got into foster care. 

Boy 2: I came into foster care when I was nine and now I'm fourteen. So I've been in foster care for almost five years. 

Nicole: About 11 to 12 years now. 

Tomondale: I've been in foster care for eight years. 

Baily: We got taken away because my mom left us home alone and I cut myself really bad and had to go to the hospital. So that's how they found out. 

Melissa: I didn't understand why I was taken from my mother, but after a while I did tell the truth about what my mother did. 

Cassandra: Right after she passed away I thought, "There's no one else and I will... I'm completely alone now." 

Tracye: I've been in, I believe, five foster homes, but seven different placements, like shelters and stuff. 

Gabrielle: I've been to almost twenty different group homes and foster homes in the past ten years. 

Tomondale: Okay, I have bounced from four different placements in two weeks. 

Melissa: I was placed with my sister in the home. We both were taken at the same time. Our brothers were split up. 

Nicole: It's been real difficult, because I miss my family and stuff. 

Gabrielle: I was ten when I moved back with my mother. It never worked out so I started going back to group homes. 

No Audio: Franceska, Age 14

Franceska: It's hard because people don't really understand what foster care is about, and they're not experiencing it themselves, so they're not sure what you're going through, so their first judgment is usually, "She did something wrong." Or, you know, "She's been bad," or something like that. But, it's not that at all. Foster care is for kids whose parents can't take care of them or they can't be in the home because it's not safe.

No Audio: Cassandra, Age 17
 
Cassandra: I kind of wanted to run away at first. I didn't know where, I mean, not necessarily physically, but just kind of give up. 

No Audio: Tomondale, Age 18

Tomondale: I was kind of scared at first, because I didn't know what love was. 

Franceska: I don't have a lot of friends in school because I move around so much. In the past year I have been to like three different schools - four different schools actually. And I can't stay in one position, and so, it's hard because if I meet a group of friends and I become friends with them, then I leave and then I won't see them again or they won't have contact with me because of me leaving. And so I try to make friends, but it's not that easy being in foster care. 

No Audio: Nicole, Age 16

Nicole: The thing that makes me scared is when I feel like somebody says they love me and stuff. I'm thinking, you know, love is like when they're going to throw me to the side again, and, just... they don't want me anymore. 

Franceska: Like I said, it's been tough. It's been really, really tough. I don't see my siblings very often, and I'm not allowed to call them. 

No Audio: Tracye, Age 15

Tracye: I hate it, because, it's like, I feel like you should always have a suitcase packed, you know, like a mercy suitcase, so you know, like, that's how often a lot of kids move. You know, we should be put in one place, and stay in that one place, because we do not like to be moved around, moving to I don't know how many different schools, different towns. 

Nicole: The thing that makes it hard is when I have to, like, switch homes, because one home... you know, I'm thinking that I'm going to stay here and then, you know, how everything is going just fine and stuff, then next minute I have to move to a different home, and it makes my whole transition being very difficult and stuff, and I'll be so scared and everything's like, I don't want to be here, and I don't want to communicate with anybody. But then I have to look back and say, you know, "Hey, things might work out for me." 

No Audio: Gabrielle, Age 17

Gabrielle: When I first came here, I thought it was just going to be another foster home. I came in with the attitude that I wasn't going to last and mom and dad helped me through it. They stuck with me.

No Audio: Melissa, Age 17

Melissa: They just opened their home up to me and they opened their hearts up, even though, you know, I did some really bad stuff, you know, towards them. They still, you know, still love me today and they will always love me. 

Cassandra: I didn't realize there... someone doesn't have to be my blood family to really just know that they're there for me and they're not going to leave. 

Gabrielle: I used to hang out with the wrong crowd. I used to cuss all the time. But when I came to this foster home, they told me that, you know, your priorities need to be higher than what they were at the time. 

They said, like, it's okay to have your standards higher than, you know, other people. You don't have to bring yourself down to their standards. So, it really helped me to get better friends and make better choices. 

No Audio: Randy, Age 16

Randy: I mean, I'm with a family that loves me and we do stuff together. I mean, now I'm getting straight A's. That means I can get into the military a little bit easier. And they support me all the way. 

Tomondale: After I met my foster mom, who showed me love unconditionally... and, even though I act hard-headed sometimes, and act a fool... but she still gave me love. She looked after me. She was my guardian angel. She was a prayer come true.

No Audio: Christa, Age 17 

Christa: We want to be able to feel secure somewhere. If you move around all the time, then they're never going to feel like they have a home anywhere. 

Randy: I want a permanent home, not just moving around place to place. And I just... I like the foster home I'm in. I don't want to move. They're nice people. 

Franceska: I would love to have a permanent home. Like, it's not fun to think... to go from place to place and think that, "Will I be going back to that home or am I going to go to another home?" Like, it's kind of hard to know, like, to think that you're not going to know where you're going to be at today or tomorrow. It could be completely different. And so, it's just hard. 

Gabrielle: It's kind of impossible at my age to really find someone to actually adopt and whatnot. It kind of hurts. I wish there was just some magic answer that you could just... but there's not, and I just feel like I've had to grow up really fast. 

And a lot of the kids in my high school really don't understand a lot of the things that I go through, and it's really hard for them to actually put themselves in my shoes, because I try to talk about just certain things, like, well, I can't just go to your house. I have to fill out visit forms. I have to have all like, background checks, everything. 

They... very different from... I don't want to say "real teenagers," but it's not... I don't feel like a teenager anymore. I feel kind of... it's... you're different than the other kids at school who aren't in foster care. 

Christa: I've never really respected any adult, like adult figures, in my entire life. And since I got in foster care I can actually have some respect and follow rules and things. I've gained a lot of respect for people that are foster parents, because they have so much love in them, they're like angels. They're like guardian angels, you know? 

We need more people like foster parents, like good foster parents out there, for people to... because there's a lot of kids like us that... we just want a little bit of love and anyone that can take in people to their... take in foster kids to their home, they're probably the best people I'll ever meet.