It Takes a Village….

Sasha Woolf- My Journey Through the Foster Care System

As a child growing up in the  foster care system,  I found it difficult to talk to people about my feelings. There were so many people coming in and out of my life all of the time.  I just didn’t feel comfortable sharing myself with them. I never had anything that was a constant  in my life, except God, so I began to read my bible all of the time. I recall seeing adults, who were there to “help” me and other children, judging us by what they’d read in our records, and making assumptions without ever really talking to us.  I had no voice.  I eventually began to write poetry and to use the art of “spoken word” to communicate my feelings and the thoughts, hopes and dreams of other foster children.  I learned that I could not use my time in foster care as a crutch, and that I could not allow  the system  to determine my success. I grew to be self-reliant and stopped finding reasons not to succeed.

            I plan to go to Oxford and major in psychology. Upon graduation, I plan to be a highly successful entrepreneur, and to open a business called Poetic, Inc. , which will focus on the arts (poetry, singing and dancing). I also want to open a homeless shelter, and to serve as a motivational speaker. Until then, I want all the other foster children to know that they, too, must determine their own focus in life; that they can’t let people defer their dreams; and that they have to prove the system  wrong.    I DID !!!!