dear foster care

Thank you for taking me in when I was the hardest child to love, to guide, to control. I wasn’t easy. I was angry, loud, lost. Always in trouble, always pushing limits, always with the police at your door instead of peace in your home. And still— you kept the door open. You fed me, sat me at the table, made sure I had dinner even on the days I didn’t say thank you or act like I cared. You didn’t give up when it would’ve been easier to walk away. You didn’t send me back when I made life heavy. You stayed when I didn’t know how to stay myself. Thank you for the roof, the meals, the rules I pretended to hate but needed more than I knew. Without you, I know my life could have gone very differently. A lot of my family were on drugs, and that path was close, too close. But because of you, I had something steadier. Something safer. A chance. Thank you for seeing something in me when I couldn’t see it at all. Without you, I honestly don’t know where I’d be today. My life could have gone downhill, fast and hard. But because you stepped in, because you tried, because you cared— I survived. I grew. I’m still standing. So this is my thank you, long overdue, spoken from a place of understanding I didn’t have back then. Than