About three years ago Nayomi came to One Simple Wish to participate in a half-day job skills program at our offices in Trenton, NJ. She was 17 at the time, living in a group home, and she had already spent most of her teenage years in foster care. While many of the kids went through that day just going through the motions, Nayomi was different. She was deeply engaged with every presenter. She asked questions and she participated enthusiastically in every group. Her huge smile and bright eyes lit up every time she spoke about foster care and the changes she thought needed to be made. She captivated every adult in the room. That day she approached me and asked if I had any idea how she may be able to get an internship with One Simple Wish. She thought I was a volunteer.
Fast forward to today. Nayomi recently turned 21 and aged out of foster care. She wasn’t ever officially reunified with her family and she still resides in a supportive housing program in a rough city. She is a dedicated, doting mom of a 7 month-old girl. And, she works at One Simple Wish. After completing a year-long internship for which she traveled two hours each way using mass transportation, and after numerous weeks volunteering and a 90-day consulting project, she was hired as our Community Relations Manager. She now presents at businesses, schools and events throughout NJ and, soon nationwide, beautifully spreading our mission of ensuring that every child knows the love, hope and joy they deserve. She’s a natural. She’s a star.
Along the way, Nayomi has had a lot of wishes granted; a diaper bag filled with baby supplies, new clothes, winter boots, transportation funds and more. Nayomi hasn’t taken a single wish for granted and recently, when we posted a wish to help her buy her first car, she was overwhelmed with emotion when, in just two days, our supporters donated an incredible $5,010 towards her wish.
The best part about all of this is that while Nayomi’s story is unique, she is not the only child that One Simple Wish has touched beyond the wishes you see on our website. One Simple Wish’s online wish granting platform has become a catalyst for hundreds of stories like Nayomi’s; making connections for young people in foster care all over the United States.
This is the most beautiful part of what we are doing. Our program is not just an online registry of “things”. It is a beautiful village of caring, generous and supportive people who, every single day, stand up and say “We care about you,” to thousands of kids who have, many times, felt invisible.
The foster care system is a complex, exception-filled web of people, policies and practice all of which need restructuring. But as I attend countless meetings, conferences, briefings and events focused on making these needed changes I always go back to one thing; people. Without engaging more people in this conversation about how we can better serve our kids, I don’t believe we will find the answers we are all so desperately looking for.
This is not just a conversation for the policy makers, legislators, large corporate-like nonprofits and figure heads in the child welfare world. This is a conversation that must reach every dinner table in America; from caring adults who may eventually be able to foster or adopt, to children who may be learning alongside foster children in their classrooms without knowing it. There is a place for everyone in this reform; each one providing a critical piece to this puzzle. The amazing children in and aged-out of foster care, those who have already been traumatized by abuse, neglect, abandonment, drug abuse, incarceration, overworked case managers, outdated policies and more, need us to come together and offer simple and effective ways to engage as many caring people as possible.
I believe One Simple Wish is on to something.
Since launching in 2008, we have not only touched the lives of over 40,000 children, but we have engaged tens of thousands of individuals by connecting them directly to children’s needs. Since we have revamped our platform late last year to focus on promoting deeper engagement with the kids, we are now positioned to also help adults move down the continuum from wish granter to mentor to Court Appointed Special Advocate to foster parent to adoption; taking any detours or paths they choose, all the while remaining true to our core belief that the child’s voice should always be the loudest.
As our reach continues to grow (we are now connected to over 800 agencies in nearly every US state), so does our responsibility to this cause and so does our drive to do even more. I am asking that every person who reads this article finds within them some way that they can join us in amplifying the voices of our nation’s foster youth. It could be granting a wish, volunteering, reaching out to your local foster care agency or simply sharing this piece on social media and challenging your network to get involved too. I am asking every person involved in child welfare to join us too. We are an incredibly collaborative group; evident by our outstanding network and dedicated team, and we are certain there is a way for us to work with nearly every agency and nonprofit in this field. Don’t just dismiss us as a “website” or a “wish granting organization”. We are a movement and a strong one at that.
When I give talks around the country about our work I often begin by asking the audience to do this, “Close your eyes and think back to one of the best gifts you ever got as a child. Remember how bad you wanted it. Remember how you felt when you finally had it. Remember who was there. Now open your eyes and realize you have the power to give that same love, that same hope and that same joy to a child who may have never known it before. And that could be just the beginning. “
So what are you waiting for? Let’s connect.