Illustration by Victoria Borges
On March 26, 2015, I was sitting in Spanish class when I received a call that would change my life. I hesitantly made my way to the front office of Richmond Community High School, where I was greeted by social workers and my school principal. They delivered news that most 13-year-olds never receive: “After a three-month investigation, we have decided to place you and your sisters in foster care.”
Shortly thereafter, I was referred to Richmond-based United Methodist Family Services’ Treatment Foster Care program, which specializes in helping older children find foster families. My sisters and I were placed with a family headed by older foster parents, and when I saw our “new family,” I had some reservations. It was all so new, so different and so foreign. After eight months, my sisters returned to our mother, but I stayed in care. At that point, something in me realized that with adversity comes opportunity. I wouldn’t let my circumstances stop me from reaching my potential. I wanted to seek out every opportunity and support available.
Fast-forward six years and four placements later, and I’m no longer the same teenager who sat in a chair, facing my principal and social worker, in shock at that life-altering news. I am now a senior at Old Dominion University, where I am the vice president of the student body and a founder of Foster-U, a nonprofit for youth in the foster system.
It hasn’t been easy, and the odds are stacked against me.
A study by the University of Chicago found that fewer than 4% of youth formerly in foster care earn their bachelor’s degree by age 24. I am working to be part of that 4%, and I am trying to put additional supports in place for others so that number grows.
When I was in high school, I participated in a UMFS program called Project LIFE (Living Independently, Focusing on Empowerment), a partnership with the Virginia Department of Social Services aimed at helping older youth successfully transition out of foster care, equipped for the demands of adulthood and, in my case, college. I began slowly — by attending support groups, eventually participating in them and ultimately leading them. I went to conferences all over Virginia where I served as a panelist and facilitated workshops.
It was there I heard the stories of kids who were worried about getting into college and what life looked like after high school. I spent the latter half of my own years in high school buckling down and doing my best to get the grades I needed to make my college dreams come true.
When I was accepted at ODU, for the first time I felt like my future was in my own hands, and it seemed like opportunities were endless — not only opportunities for me, but opportunities to give back to others.
Many colleges and high school campuses have resources and communities for almost anything you can think of, including study help, mental health counselors, physical health, career services, foreign language clubs, and sexuality and gender alliances. But what about a support system for kids in foster care spearheaded by people like me — college students who are navigating and living with the challenge each day? That community didn’t exist.
In 2018, I founded Foster-U, a nonprofit where college students like me mentor, lead workshops, and offer campus tours and more to youth in foster care. Foster-U aims to show this population that their higher-education goals are attainable by sharing real-life examples.
My goal is to one day have Foster-U spread far beyond ODU. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has hindered its progress.
When the pandemic hit, I was weeks away from March for Our Care, a Norfolk-based walk for foster care awareness that I had put countless hours into planning. We had arranged speakers, mapped routes, secured sponsors and more. Seemingly overnight, I went from putting the final touches on the event to scrambling to figure out how to drop everything and leave a college that had become my home.
When my former foster families were unable to move me out on such short notice, I rented a car from Enterprise, packed up my belongings, drove myself to Richmond and moved everything into a storage unit. Suddenly, I was living with my grandma, navigating online classes and trying to figure out what was next for me.
In January, I moved into my own apartment in downtown Richmond. After moving around from place to place for six years, it was a big step. A step that felt like home. I will complete my senior year remotely, in a place I call my own. As for my Foster-U work, it is just beginning, and I’ve got some big dreams in the works — like rescheduling March for Our Care, but this time taking it to the streets of Washington, D.C.
Without Project LIFE, I’m not sure I would have met the people who opened my eyes to the power and influence I have as a young person who has aged out of the foster care system — a young person who will be graduating college with a bachelor’s degree in human services next May.
Take that, statistics.
Melvin Roy is a senior at Old Dominion University, where he is the founder of Foster-U, an organization that helps youth in the foster care system. After graduation, he hopes to attend law school to become a human rights lawyer. He is currently targeting May 2022 for the D.C. March for Our Care walk. If you would like to support his efforts and Foster-U, visit fosteruniv.org or email him at melvin@fosteruniv.org.
