I believe the courage is being able to open up to someone without the fear of being judged, and that’s exactly what I am about to do right now. At 2 months old I was put into foster care, and for me to open up and be able to tell a person is a big deal for me. It happens to be big deal to me because it opens up the endless variety of stereotypical questions, for example “your parents didn’t want you?” “So you weren’t wanted?” “You don’t have a real family? Or you don’t have parents?” Wrong. The reason it takes courage for me to open about my past is because by telling people about it I feel like I am handing over the power for them to hurt me by using it against me and making me feel like less of a person because my biological parents weren’t able to take care of me like everyone else.

I think that the hardest part about being in foster care is having to deal with my biological parents. It takes courage to love my biological parents for who they are because I know that I will never have the power to change them no matter how hard I try. The strength that it takes to come to terms with the fact that my biological parents will never be able to be there and parent me the way I would’ve liked them to is just something that I am always going to have to deal with, and I am okay with that. All I can hope is that one day I will be able to develop a relationship with them in a way that I have never been able to before.

I definitely feel that hope and courage can be displayed through any type of situation and I think that I show it through the ability to realize that being in foster care doesn’t make me any different from anyone else. I have come to terms with the fact that just because my biological parents aren’t able to look out for me the way I would like doesn’t mean that they don’t love me. I show hope by thinking one day I could possibly develop a relationship with my parents.

Being a foster child I’ve always kind of felt out of place, like I didn’t belong, and it’s hard not to feel that way sometimes. I find it hard not to feel that way because in most cases the foster home you get put into already have kids of their own, and when you are able to see how two people can love their own kids it kind of makes me wonder if my parents will ever be able to show me the love, guidance, and support that other people show their kids. As for my foster family  I couldn’t of asked for a bigger blessing in my life.  It’s incredible feeling to know that two people can take you in a love you as their own. I have come to realize that it’s not where you come from, it’s where you belong. Being a foster child has shaped me into the person that I am today. It has taught me that you can’t change who you are or where you came from, you just have to accept it, and I’ve also learned that you have to accept others for who they are.

-By Chelsea Heavy Runner