Foster Care Awareness Month: Why we must talk about what actually works for Black youth

Every May during Foster Care Awareness Month, we hear stories about the failures of the foster care system.

- By ANTHONY ROBINSON

((Pexels/August de Richelieu))

Every May during Foster Care Awareness Month, we hear stories about the failures of the foster care system. We hear about abuse, instability, overcrowded systems, youth aging out without support, and children who fall through the cracks. Those stories matter because those realities exist.

As a Black man who spent seven years in foster care in New York City, I also believe we need to spend more time talking about what happens when the system works and young people receive the support, stability, and community they deserve. Too often, foster youth are discussed only through the lens of trauma. Rarely do people talk about the adults, mentors, and programs that help them build meaningful and successful lives.

I entered foster care at 14 years old, carrying anger and pain I didn’t yet know how to process. I always knew my mother loved me, but she was not equipped to provide the structure and support I needed at that stage in my life. Like many young Black boys growing up in difficult circumstances, I was acting out while trying to figure out who I was. What I remember most from that time was not feeling safe anywhere — until I entered foster care through the nonprofit organization JCCA.

For the first time, I felt seen as a person instead of a problem to be solved.