- There’s no motivator like passion. Just ask Delores, whose foster son, Mike, has discovered his: aeronautical engineering.
Not long ago, Delores was at the end of her rope with Mike. His bad grades were matched by a bad attitude and Delores had run out of hope. That was the situation when a Treehouse educational advocate first visited the pair. “You can advocate,” Delores told the advocate, “but this one will not listen. You won’t get through to him.”
- Reuben was orphaned as a child, bounced from home to home his entire childhood, and didn’t attend a consecutive year of school until he was a junior in high school. The impact this had on his education was devastating and, it seemed to him, it predicted that he would never attend college.
Lee is a charming, outgoing fourth grader with a big smile and a generous heart. In his eight years, he has suffered intense physical and emotional abuse that has left him with physical trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His disabilities manifest in behaviors like running away and physical aggression.
David de la Fuente is a coach and the Vice-President of the American Liver Foundation, Pacific Northwest Division. He’s personally witnessed the positive impact Treehouse has had on some of the kids he has coached. Anthony’s story reflects what David has seen in some of his athletes.
Adam is a little short on confidence. He’s shy, he’s a foster kid, and he’s got a speech impediment that he’s self conscious about. Adam is a seven year old with energy to spare. But early childhood trauma has made it hard for him to deal with his emotions calmly. His foster mom knew that what he needed was a good place to use his abundant energy. One day he decided he wanted to play football, and to his foster mom Amy, that seemed like just the right thing for him. Unfortunately the fees were too much for her, so she turned to Treehouse’s Little Wishes program. Amy helped Adam make a Little Wish at Treehouse and now big things are happening.
- In the fall of 2008 Carly was finally doing well in school. She’d been removed from her birth home and placed in a group home that she really liked. Her grades and attitude were improving and everyone involved was quite pleased with her turnaround. Then she was placed in a relative’s home and she quickly began to deteriorate. Her attitude and grades suffered and she was quickly slipping back into bad decision-making. By late January she was removed from her relatives home and sent back to the group home where she’d previously been successful.
Finally, a happy beginning for Trina.
Trina is a 14-year-old foster child who has ADHD and bipolar disorder. She has been in more than five different school placements and, until recently, was still placed in a sixth grade class room where kids are generally 11 and 12 years old.
School has been hard for Trina since the beginning. She’s been behind since kindergarten and, through a series of missteps, she hasn’t been given the supports she needs to be successful in school. Additionally, her behavior makes it difficult for her to learn.Small Steps Overcome Big Challenges
When Jason entered the foster care system he’d never played the guitar, but he wanted to. There was no reason for him to believe that becoming a foster kid would give him the opportunity to learn how to play, but it did.
Foster Care Fact
28% of foster kids are in the system for three or more years.
