This site began as part of a 5th Grade Exhibition Project at Clubview Elementary School—but through conversations with local foster families and research into the history of foster care in the United States, it became something much more.
This topic is deeply personal to me. The resources you’ll find here are the same ones that stepped in and supported my mom and me during our time in foster care. As I learned more, I realized that these kinds of supports simply did not exist for my great-great-grandmother when she entered foster care generations ago.
I have always been loved. I have always been wanted. I have been surrounded by support every day of my life. This project helped me recognize just how meaningful that is.
When my Mimi entered foster care in 1904 after the loss of her father, there were no regulations, no protections, and no concept of reunification. Although she was adopted—just like I was—her experience was very different. She wasn’t adopted into a family for love and belonging, but rather for labor. She was expected to work, not to be nurtured as a daughter.
The foster care system is not perfect. In many ways, it is still broken. But today, there are resources, communities, and opportunities that can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.
Those resources helped shape my story. It’s our hope that they will support and strengthen yours as well.
My Mimi