Niko, Foster Care

Hello everyone my name is Niko. I had spent quite some time in foster care in my past. Now I am here in front of you all tonight to tell my story. Standing here in this room is such a surreal feeling. If you would have asked me if I could ever picture myself here in this room, at this point in my life I probably would have laughed at you. Looking around this room I see a lot of people who are going through what I had went through and I just want to tell you all that it’s going to ok….trust me! You are surrounded by people who want to help, who want to make a difference in your life. Everybody in this room will make an impact in your life by the end of this journey whether you believe it or not. You may not want to be here but the fact is you are and you can’t change what led you here, all you can do is move forward, keep pushing and come out on top and take this as the path you were put on. All you have to do is give these people a chance and trust me you will be suprised by the outcome. Throughout my life I have been through hell and back but Hope For Youth Ms Carolyn and her family made that experience easier. I was excepted. Just imagine being a young kid ripped away from your family and the system constantly failing you, then going somewhere that made you feel welcomed, like you were family. Can you imagine the weight lifted off your shoulders? The moment I set foot in Ms.Carolyn’s household my life started to be molded. It was the beginning of my foundation. Throughout that journey I learned respect, kindness, moderation and to take each thing that happened in my life as a lesson instead of a mistake or hardship. In the end I went from an angry little boy to a respectable young man. I can recall many days where I felt like it wasn’t worth it, then we would sit down and have dinner and trust me her cooking can make anybody reconsider… No seriously it was those moments at a table with people who were once complete strangers but now somehow your family, your brothers, your mother, your father they made it all ok…they made it bearable. It’s not like I forgot about my actual family but they made me family when I needed family. See everybody goes through things in life, everybody gets a little thrown off track. That was the case of my family. They hit  a rough patch and unfortunately it led to us being placed in foster care, but my family didn’t give up though they didn’t throw in the towel, they fought, they climbed mountains, walked through fires and showed the system they weren’t unfit yet hit a mere pothole in their life. We were reunited and live an amazing life, but i can’t forget about all the pit stops along the way. Especially the ones that game me hope. Hope For Youth the name is exactly as it says it gave me hope in my youth years, it placed me with a family that Ii love unconditionally till this day and if I could go back and change anything….I wouldn’t change a thing because it made me who I am today it made me a wiser man. So keep hope because you couldn’t be in a better place to do so. Take each day as it comes because there isn’t a more valuable time then the present and love more then you did yesterday. I promise you all there is a silver lining you just need to be willing to find it.