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First Person: "My positive experience in foster care"

Editor’s Note: This letter was submitted to an Aaron’s Furniture writing contest for children across Texas about their experience in Buckner foster care. This letter won second place overall.

My name is Sara*. I would like to give you a taste of what things were like for me. I have some things that I want to talk about that are positive, but let’s rewind my story.

I have been in foster care for almost three years now and while none of it has been easy, I don’t regret anything. Growing up, I had an abusive father and my mother died when I was 9 years old. I went to live with my aunt, and that’s when things went downhill for me. Basically, she hurt me until someone finally noticed.

When I showed up in the system, I was in a very dark place. That got comforting to me. The foster homes that I was in were fine but it wasn’t until I showed up at Buckner that my life took a different turn.

This is why I prefer to talk about my experience at Buckner where my life changed forever. Things at the time, when I showed up at Buckner, were complicated. My behavior was at its worst. I didn’t care about my grades in school. I was always misbehaving and I felt like I didn’t have to listen to anyone around me. I felt with my behavior, things would never get better for me. You know what shocked me though? Buckner came to my rescue, immediately opened their arms to me. Even though they could have moved me, they didn’t. That was something I was never used to: people caring about me and people loving me no matter what.

At first I thought they were doing this because it was their job, but I soon found out it was because they cared. So they continued to be there for me no matter what situation I was in.

Some kids don’t have it the way I do and for that I never take my life for granted like I used to. Sometimes I think that my life is like Cinderella’s. She grew up rough but never let anything come in the way of her dreams.

My life is never going to be something I call “easy,” but because of Buckner, things are looking bright and I now know that I can do anything.

Before my mother passed away, she told me to make something of myself and be one of the few to graduate from high school and be something important in my life.

I am now a sophomore in high school. I actually plan on taking my first year of college and seeing my family, who live in Germany.

After traveling, I plan on going to the University of Texas at Arlington to become a pediatric nurse. I love helping people and I’m an aunt to 16 beautiful nieces and nephews so this is my dream job and I will do whatever it takes to reach my dream.

I know foster care isn’t the best thing in the world and it has its moments where you want to give up, but it has blessed me with so many different opportunities that make me thankful for the life I’m living. I can’t go anywhere but up from here.

Thank you so much for listening to my story. I hope you’re inspired to keep making your life the best it can be even when it gets hard.

* Name changed for privacy

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