Former Foster Youths: Personal Reflections

Former Foster Youth Reaches Out to Help Others

by the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles

It's a long journey from a group home in Compton, California to the halls of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. But former foster youth Tramisha Poindexter is determined to take every opportunity to speak out for the needs of children in the foster care system. Tramisha entered foster care as a young child after her mother died. She lacked a good support system and dealt with loneliness, fear, and sadness while trying to find stability and build a foundation for her adult life.

Situations sometimes come with no invitation and leave with no explanation. It's up to us to reach our final destination!—Tramisha Poindexter

Tramisha shows the great personal resilience that some foster youth develop. After stabilizing her own life and establishing her own adult path, she dedicated herself to improving the lives of others. As a leader of California Youth Connection-a grass roots organization advocating for foster youth-Tramisha travels widely to advocate for legislation to improve the foster care system and help transitioning foster youth develop skills. Tramisha is also a poet. Her work reflects her own beauty, strength, and unique personality and makes a powerful impact on everyone she meets.

Foster Youth Artist Receives Awards

Pedro Martinez expresses his hopes, aspirations, and view of the world through his art. "I have been in many different foster homes, around eight or so, and in many schools," he explains. "It's been pretty rough. After I moved around a lot, it felt like nobody knew me." Despite the lack of stability in his environment, Pedro believes that the biggest hurdles we face come from within ourselves. His love for music and his plans to get a good education give him high hopes for the future.

Despite the lack of stability in his environment, Pedro believes that the biggest hurdles we face come from within ourselves.

"I was given a scholarship to art classes at the Barnsdall Art School and I just received a Renaissance Scholarship to Cal Poly," he shares proudly. "So I am feeling pretty good, pretty excited. I want to do art forever." Pedro is fortunate to maintain a strong relationship with his siblings. He also dreams of future success, "Hopefully I can get a career that will pay well, so I can help my brothers and sister." Pedro's work can be seen in the booklet, "My Past, Present and Future…Voices of Foster Youth," published by the Los Angeles Foster Care Awareness Campaign.

Featured Guest

Miriam Krinsky

Guest Main Page

A Piecemeal Approach to Foster Care

Published: September 15, 2005