THE NITTY GRITTY
When Giselle was 15, her mother brought her to the United States—to Brooklyn—from Tobago to escape her abusive father. Giselle’s mother left her with family friends and returned to Tobago.

The arrangement Giselle’s mother had made with the family friends was that when she could afford to, she would send money to the family to care for Giselle. But the currency rate was so low that the money she sent covered very little, and Giselle went without a lot of necessary things. The family Giselle was living with also cared for their own niece, who was abusive toward Giselle, and Giselle wouldn’t fight back, and the family wouldn’t intervene.

One day Giselle decided she couldn’t take it anymore and talked with a teacher who introduced her to another girl in her school also from Tobago. Giselle met the girl’s family, and upon hearing of Giselle’s situation, the girl’s mother invited Giselle to live with them. She stayed there until her father came to the United States and became abusive to her again. Someone called Child Protective Services, and Giselle was put into a diagnostic center. After awhile there, she was so well-behaved that they found her a foster home where she lived for two years.

After some soul-searching, Giselle decided to reconnect with her mother and still keeps in touch with her. Her mother still lives in Tobago, but she comes to the United States often, and they talk often.

ACHIEVEMENTS
Giselle now cares for her teenaged sister who came to live with her when she was 14. She’s 16 now. She doesn’t want her sister to go into foster care so she has taken on responsibility for her. Giselle says it can be difficult at times because her freedom is curtailed. "But we make it through," she says.

While doing this, Giselle works as an organizer/trainer for Voices of Youth (VOY). VOY is a project designed to "make foster care a more supportive experience for teens so they are better prepared for the transition out of care." VOY does this by integrating young people in care into training, curriculum, and planning for agencies and their staff.

Giselle has had her work published in Foster Care Youth United and has won many awards, including the Urban Heroes award in 1998.

Giselle runs a children’s group in her community and is a graduate of Public Allies/NY and is enrolled at John Jay College.

CURRENT WORK
As a youth organizer/trainer for Voices of Youth, Giselle makes sure the youth in the program have their needs met and trains and prepares them for speaking events where they talk to child welfare staff and other youth. She also does some public speaking herself and supervises two interns.

PLANS FOR FUTURE
Giselle would like to become a lawyer who works with children and families. But first she wants to get a Master’s Degree in Social Work.

INSPIRATION
"I have a really strong support group through church and being active in church. Lots of people have been my inspiration—like my high school teacher. My teacher is still my cheerleader. She’s been doing that since high school. God is also my inspiration. A lot of times a human can’t help me. So I spend time singing and praying. And it’s nice to now have supervisors who know what it’s been like for me. Voices of Youth has been really good for me."

ADVICE TO YOUTH TRANSITIONING INTO ADULTHOOD
"Plan. Don’t wait for your agency staff to plan for you. Start planning now what you want to be. Take advantage of the opportunities out there for you. Take the risk; take the chance."

FAVORITE BOOKS
Messages to Young People. By Ellen G. White.