When I was about 10 years old, I went to foster care because my mom died, and my dad was far away. When I was with my dad, I went to school and became number one in my first-grade class. After my dad found out that I was number one in class, he put me in a private Catholic school.
When I went to foster care, a foster care worker falsely labeled me as some kid who was mentally disabled and sent me to be locked up in a mental facility. While in the mental institution, I was not allowed to go to school or question anything. If I asked why I was in a mental facility when I did not have a mental illness, and why I was not allowed to be in school, they would throw me on the ground, restrain me, and stick me with needles that had drugs in them to sedate me. This is inhumane. This type of treatment is slavery. One can tell that these are exactly some of the ways that our ancestors were treated in the historical slavery days. Preventing humans from getting an education and the freedom to come and go as they please is slavery, which violates the Thirteenth Amendment. When I was punished for asking questions in foster care, I remember saying to myself that this was a violation of my freedom of speech.
One of the policies I would strongly propose for former foster youth in Minnesota or across the United States is compensation. Because of the inhumane treatment some children in the foster care system get subjected to, I think that these children, especially kids who do not belong to those mental institutions, should be given some kind of compensation for their injuries. The compensation should be about $200 to $500 monthly for five to 10 years, regardless of age. They deserve to get compensated because these children endure physical and mental injury in those locked facilities and could sue these facilities for personal injury. However, because most of these kids do not have parents who could file lawsuits on their behalf on time, they realize later on that their rights were violated. By the time they realize this, it would already be too late for them to sue, and they would miss the deadline because of the state’s statute of limitations. I also think that older foster youth should be given housing until they are 30 because this is when they finish medical or law school if they wish to go further into graduate professional careers.
Foster care does more harm than good, but no harm can change me. After being locked up in those mental facilities, prevented from going to school like a slave for a long time, and subjected to severe abuse, I finally left foster care. I went to a regular community and was identified and recommended to be put into the highly gifted magnet program at North Hollywood High School in California. I took lots of college classes, including AP classes while still in high school. I graduated high school summa cum laude with a 4.06 GPA. I was featured in the St. Paul Pioneer Press as one of the top graduating high schoolers from the Twin Cities Metro area. I was once accepted to and attended Yale University, but later, did not finish there because Yale did not give me any scholarship. I applied to the University of Minnesota (UMN) the next year and got into the College of Biological Sciences with some scholarships. I am currently a sophomore at UMN and triple majoring in math, biology, and physics. I am planning to transfer to a college within the University of California System. I am planning to be a doctor and an astrophysicist.
To someone out there, know that no matter the obstacles put in your way to hold you back, nothing can change your gift or talent. This is because before I went to foster care, I loved school. After I left foster care, I still loved school. I was great at school and am still great at school. Despite the barricades built around my way, I still achieved my educational opportunity. No one can take my innate gift away from me.
