I am Jerisha Walker. I am a 17 year old American girl, high school student, a mom, and a foster child. I have been a foster child since I was five years old and I have had some life changing experiences within these past eleven years of my life. There are very few things that have inspired me over the years, but those that have shown in my everyday lifestyle and will continue to take me places.
In my childhood I have encountered some extraordinary people as well as the not so enthusiastic people due to the number of different families I have lived with. Being in foster care is like being an orphan except in most cases the child’s parents are living. The parent may have done something wrong to get their child taken by the government and placed in foster care, the child may have participated in a criminal act, or in very few cases the parents may not have been able to support their child financially. I am not exactly sure why I was placed in foster care because I was only five years old, but I know it did not have to do with my mother.
The most important family I ever really had were the Woodson’s, and the reason they were so important to me is because they never hurt me physically or emotionally. Stacy was my foster mom and she is the most beautiful woman inside and out that I have ever met. Despite the fact that she had four biological children, she wanted to take care of my two other foster siblings and me making a total of seven kids. Not only did she have five teenage kids (2 boy and 3 girls), but she had to be an army wife, co-pastor of the church, and super sports (soccer, cheerleading, and basketball) mom. My mom made time for each and every one of us, but mostly me because unlike the other foster kids I did not have my real family to depend on so I got in a lot of trouble. I haven’t seen my foster family in over 3 years because they had to move away due to Army reasons so I could not leave my state to go with them. The only time I really hear from them is for my daughters birthday, Christmas, or my own birthday and each time I cry because they are the most important people I know and they love me more than my own biological family. Because of the Woodson family I choose to live a Christian life because they told me the Lord will never turn his back on me even when I think everyone else has. They also taught me to always put God first and then people, and to live according to His word. I learnt more in the six months I lived with them than I have with any other family and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
~ *Jerisha Walker*~
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