When I was first put into the foster care system, I was already seventeen. I had just turned seventeen six days before and I had no clue on how to proceed with my life. I am twenty and I still don’t know what is going on in my life half of the time!
Luckily, I had DHS workers who helped me through it. So many things happened that day and I remember it all being a blur. I knew what was happening, but I did not want to. My whole world had turned upside down and everything I knew was backwards. It is an understatement to say that my life changed from that day forth.
The one question I remember being asked was if I had any relatives who lived nearby. I only had an uncle who lived 45 minutes away who I had already lived with at the beginning of my move to Iowa. I never really knew him nor wanted to get to know him but I was very close with his daughter, my cousin. We still are in contact to this day. When I was asked if I would like to live with them, my first thought was to say yes.
I was raised to say yes. But something changed within me that day. The incident from that morning changed me. Because 24 hours before that moment, I would have said yes. Instead, I said no. I said no and that caused a chain of events that gifted me an amazingly supportive forever family, healthy relationships, a college education, and just recently a wonderful opportunity to help others that were and are in my situation.
I am happy I said no because that decision created a better life for me. And as much as I appreciate and am eternally grateful for all the opportunities I have received from that decision, there is still a part of me that wonders what might have been if I had said yes.
That is where kinship funds come in. If I had lived with them, there would have been a struggle, but they would have been able to receive financial aid to assist in raising me. With the pandemic relief fund, I would have been able to receive up to $300 a year. It is not a thing one can rely on in order to live, but it is something. When you are raising a kid or even trying to conquer this thing called adulthood, anything helps.
In order to sign up, all you have to do is go onto the Iowa Aftercare Network Services website and the application will be listed on the link displayed in the front page. Knowing this, I wonder if things would be different. There are still a world of unknowns. However, as of right now, I know that this fund will help so much for the families who struggle to keep up with their foster kids daily life and activities. I wish I had this when I was going through my options. So, for those who are in the situation I’ve imagined myself in, take this opportunity and use it! I know I would have.