Washington

Nominated as an Outstanding Young Leader by Foster Club in 2019, Courtney has utilized her unique lived experience in Washington State’s foster care to make a positive impact on the system she and her sibling were forced to navigate. Apart from her employment roles as a Case Manager for Homeless... Read more

Brittney Lee experienced 17 foster homes in the span of 17 years of her childhood. Brittney’s current aspiration is to utilize her growth and knowledge gained from resilience, community involvement and employment opportunities with youth who have experienced foster care. She consistently involves herself in community conversations on child welfare... Read more

James Sheard was in the foster system in the state of Washington for four years before aging out. While in the system James worked with many organizations including the Mockingbird Society and the Accelerator Y. James has had the opportunity to work with foster families and foster youth to help... Read more

1.5 years in Washington’s Foster Care System Yeshi Vaughan is a 22-year-old from Washington. Her story into foster care begins in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She was 14 years old and had been living in an orphanage for about three years when she was adopted by a family from the United... Read more

Yakama Nation Jade Tillequots was placed in Tribal foster care under the Yakama Nation, a tribe whose reservation is in Washington State. She entered foster care at 4 years old and exited at age 18. Luckily, she only had 2 placements her entire time in care. She was also placed... Read more

Years in care: 5 Sabian's first experience in foster care was in second grade when he was taken out of day-care with his sister. They were placed in a foster home for 4 months then later re-united with their mom. Forward to Sabian's sophomore year in high school, and it... Read more

Jessica entered the foster care system at age 10 due to her mother’s addiction. Family and sibling separation were very difficult for her. After intense family therapy Jessica was placed back in her mother’s home, but removed again for the same reasons. She eventually went into her grandmother’s care where... Read more

David entered Washington’s foster care system at age 11 shortly after his brother’s death. It was after suffering from abuse and neglect that David was found and put into foster care in order to have a stable household. Fortunately, he was placed into a great family who ended up becoming... Read more

Ryan is working on finishing his associate’s degree this year and is hoping to transfer to Seattle University. Since Ryan was eight years old, he has been trying to navigate the foster care system. He overcame adversity being involved with half a dozen placements in different cities all across the... Read more