The List

“Two weeks ago I participated in Teen Leadership Camp and saw first hand how tangible and easy it was to help youth in foster care. When I first met my camper, Juan, he was wearing a red Anaheim Angel’s hat and sweatshirt. He seemed like a pretty normal kid. On the bus ride up to camp he shared  with me the very unfortunate story of his father’s public murder. After his father’s death, at the age of 12, Juan was placed into foster care where he had been for about a year. He explained that his brothers were now back with his biological mother, and that he did not want to go back with her for a variety of reasons. Although he cares for his foster parents deeply, they also thought it was best for him to live with his biological family. They asked him to come back from camp with a list of reasons why he felt staying with the foster family would be best. That list became our special project and we continued to work on it all weekend. I asked him questions and helped him articulate eight reasons why it was better for him to stay with his foster family. These reasons ranged from school stability to physical abuse , verbal abuse, mental abuse and everything in between. As simple as this task was, my prayer is that our work at camp will help him stay in a loving and supportive family. These kids need to feel Christ’s love through our words, time, talents, and resources.”

…TLC Camp Counselor