“I grew up in the foster care system in South Carolina. My mother and father did drugs and my father was a bad alcoholic. When he would get drunk, he would abuse my mother. My father was killed when I was in the 4th grade and, after my mother went to jail for credit card fraud, I was placed in foster care. I bounced around the state from ages 12-19 years old, going through 9 foster homes and 2 group homes.
I got arrested the summer after I graduated high school for something I didn’t do and was subsequently forced to sign out of foster care. After foster care I went to college and got my bachelor degree in Communications from Lander University, then got a job for the South Carolina Department of Social Services as a social worker helping to protect the vulnerable children that I was once a part of. While working as a social worker, I got my Master Degree of Education in Higher Ed Administration at Columbia College and now work as a Resident Director for the Tulane University Housing Office.
I was successful because of the people I had and the relationships I formed from foster care. My Guardian Ad Litem is who I moved in with after signing out of foster care and has been the most important person in my life (I call her and her husband my aunt and uncle) and her two sons are who I consider my brothers. My high school basketball coach and his family have made me a part of their family, he is who I consider my father.
Because of organizations like Together We Rise, I was able to successfully make it through the foster care system. My life motto is, ‘It’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re going,’ and I strive to help every foster child I come in contact with see that.”
*** By Daniel via Foster Love ***