Real Stories
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By kitarea — Dec 15, 2008

2009 FosterClub All-Star Kita Anderson wrote the following piece for the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) Going to graduate school to achieve my dream of becoming a social worker after overcoming a harsh beginning is the only way for... Read more

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Education
Family relationships
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Dec 4, 2008

I would like to read you two definitions of one word. The first is: to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition, the next is: to proceed with difficulty or with great effort. My friends, this is the definition of... Read more

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Entering foster care
Family relationships
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Dec 4, 2008

I entered the foster care system when I was eight years old. My mother simply left the house one rainy evening. I didn’t know what to do, so I went to the neighbors. Soon a police car came and took me away. I was terrified. My foster mom... Read more

Tagged:
Entering foster care
Family relationships
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Dec 2, 2008

Each year, more than 650 Michigan youth “age out” of foster care, leaving the system with no permanent family or place to call home. When I aged out, I was in the middle of my senior year of high school. I had no safe place to live, no job, no... Read more

Tagged:
Transition (aging out)
Kita Anderson headshot
Real Stories
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By FC Steve — Nov 11, 2008

I screamed out my sister’s name, tears cascading down my face, reaching for her out-stretched arm. But my four-year-old hand slipped from her fingers. My drunken biological mother was pulling me back inside the house, while my dad yelled for my... Read more

Tagged:
Sibling separation
Real Stories
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By FC Steve — Oct 24, 2008

I was raised as a Chinese American speaking Cantonese fluently and some Tosanese with my grandma. When I entered foster care at the age of 12, I was no longer my own person. I was told by others on how I should act and behave based on their cultural... Read more

Tagged:
Entering foster care
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Oct 5, 2008

In the U.S. today, there are more than 500,000 children living in foster care. Georgia alone has more than 14,000 children and young people in the foster care system. My brother and I were two of them. Before we entered foster care, I used to clean... Read more

Tagged:
Sibling separation
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Oct 5, 2008

My foster care story is not a typical one, although I can’t say I have ever heard a ‘typical’ story about being in foster care. Unlike many children who suffer the loss of family members at a young age, fear rejection by their foster parents, and... Read more

Tagged:
Entering foster care
Family relationships
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Oct 5, 2008

As college students arrive at school and prepare to start the new academic year, I am reminded of the painful, bittersweet occasions that I – a young person who has aged out of foster care and who recently graduated from college – have experienced... Read more

Tagged:
Entering foster care
Family relationships
Real Stories
Blog

By FC Steve — Oct 5, 2008

When I graduated from high school, all I could do was hope for a bright future. In my cap and gown, wearing a smile, I looked just like my classmates. My hopes and dreams for the future were identical to theirs. That is where the similarity ends. I... Read more

Tagged:
Entering foster care