Somebody Else's Shoes

Everything that we have talked about in this class has made me think about my past, present, and future interactions with kids and what I can do to be as helpful as possible to as many students as possible. What has hit me most in these last couple of sections was the class and discussions involving foster care.
I have actually wanted to be a foster parent for a long time. When I was young, I was friends with some kids who lived in a foster home and I have always just been inspired by the idea of taking kids who really need somewhere to go into my home

This summer, I had the privilege of working at Boys Town of Omaha as a summer supervisor. Some of the girls I worked with had lives that made me want to give away everything I had if it would mean changing their situations.

For example, one girl in my group had come to Boys Town straight from jail. She was 17 years old, and in the time that she was in jail, she had to find out that her best friend died. She was not allowed to go to the funeral. When she was moved to Boys Town, she did not go home to get clothes or belongings. Many people enter Boys Town this way, when they get to Boys Town they are given some clothes and necessities and then placed in intensive care.

Another girl in my group had been moved from group home to group home for the last 3.5 years. Her longest time in one place involved living on a farm with 12 other girls and basically taking care of pigs all day. So many kids complain about Boys Town, but this girl was just thankful that she was not sleeping in a pen with the pigs at night.

My last example is a girl who was taken from her home because of the danger that she was believed to be in due to her family's situation. She was 13 years old when she came to Boys Town. She said it was not unusual for her to be sitting at home on the couch and for gang members to be constantly streaming in and out of her living room, sometimes yelling for reasons she did not understand. Sometimes threatening her with weapons. Her mom encouraged her to start smoking when she was 10 or 11 years old. One of the craziest things about this girl was that she so badly wanted to go back. Despite the danger that she was in and her living situation, all she wanted to do was to be back with her family.

I guess this has been quite the random blog, but my relationships with these girls have been extremely life-changing. I wish I could bring them in to meet the class because of how much influence they have had on me. There are MILLIONS of kids who go through these kinds of things every single day. I think it is important that while we are trying to be great teachers and while we discuss these touchy topics with not-so-clear cut lines, we need to remember the kids and their lives and how blessed we are, and how we are called to use our blessings to help others.