Kendra Beckum knows that life in foster care isn’t easy. Her experience-six placements—had its “ups and downs,” as she describes them, but her perspective is that when doors close on you, you don’t wait for other opportunities—you “push,” because that’s when “two more will open.” This is the point of view she wants to being to other youth in foster care. Her goal is to “work with kids that have live thinking that there is no life after care.” To Kendra, being able to relate to kids in foster care is paramount: “I’ve been in their shoes and I can see how they must be feeling—the most important thing for them to know is they’re not alone.” Even though life in care, moving from home to home, was a challenge for Kendra, she’s thankful for her experience. She believes without it she wouldn’t have made it to college—and lived that life that has provided her “the voice to make it better for the next group of young foster kids.” She sees the experience of foster care as a gift and wants to help other foster youth feel the same way. It hasn’t been easy, but Kendra knows that nothing worth having ever is—and that’s the message she’d like to share with other foster youth.
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2012 Outstanding Young Leaders
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