The Foster care system is designed to be a temporary home for children who find themselves unable to live with their biological parents due to abuse and neglect.

However, the system intended as a temporary solution has become a permanent solution for many, children (also known as kinship caregivers) often no more capable of caring for them than were their biological parents, some many of themselves victim to the foster care system. Many minorities already struggling and living in poverty are unable to provide adequate shelter for family member’s children who have become entangled in the foster care system.  Viable adoptive parents are even less likely to adopt these kids, for a variety of reasons.  So, again I ask why these children “unadoptable,” lost in the very system put in place to protect them.  

I would like to create a program as a “haven” for young men and women aging out of the foster care system.  Statics show that African American children are less likely to be reunited with their biological parents for whatever reason.  The children remain in the system until age eighteen.  Our youth are released into a world where they know nothing other than the survival of their past.   These programs will provide a place of safety and balance for youth struggling in society.  This house will serve as a refuge for knowledge, information, resources, and possibly temporary housing.

Source: Forbes.com

Advocacy is the core of my being. I want to honor my mom and those living in long-term care facilities throughout New Jersey by supporting a senior. The COVID-19 pandemic has ravished our long-term care facilities. Those who remain are left to meander in losing their friends and losing personal contact with their family members. COVID-19 has impacted even my mother, and despite all the underlying conditions and ten days in the hospital, she survived this deadly virus.

However, countless residents were not as lucky. Many of these facilities have been on lockdown since March 13, 2020. Limited visitation had begun to resume in early September, but many facilities are lockdown again amidst the recent surge in cases. When these facilities return to regular visitations, the Virtuous House will support those seniors with inspiration and support.